Legends are Born: Monsters of Berk
by Cottonmouth25
Summary: Hiccup was born into a tribe that slayed monsters - so imagine his surprise when he befriended Berk's worst enemy and stopped the entire war. Along with his friends and a faithful Gore Magala, Hiccup must now use his strengths to protect his village from any threat and become the Monster Conqueror. Based off of the "Riders of Berk" TV series, and contains OCs. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

_**What Has Gone Before Part 1**_

**WARNING: Updates will come as soon as I can write them, but they will likely be slow.**

**Greetings, and many great hellos!**

**It's been a very long time since I've written "Legends are Born", and now I'm ready to do something similar. This time, however, it's a crossover between HTTYD and Monster Hunter, two very similar franchises.**

**The storyline will focus on the TV series "Riders of Berk" and "Defenders of Berk", but with my own OCs, plot twists, and even fan-made "episodes" thrown in. Fun, right?**

**Before we start, I just want to say that I do not own HTTYD, Monster Hunter, or anything related to either of them.**

**Let us start the prologue!**

* * *

_This is Berk._

_It's five days North of hopeless, and a few degrees South of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery._

_It's my village. In a word – sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new._

_We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets – the only problems are the pests._

_You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have…_

_Monsters._

* * *

**Village Plaza**

In the dead of night, the village of Berk was complete chaos. Vikings ran to and fro, grabbing axes and maces and various other weapons in order to defend themselves.

"Defend ourselves against what?" asked the newcomers.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third turned to the three people behind him. There was Arachne, the young girl who had lost her parents in an Outcast raid and now lived on Berk with her aunt and uncle. There was Snaketail, the tall teenager who had also lost her family, and had come to Berk in search of a home. And then there was Batwings, a shapeshifting Siren that resembled a person-dragon hybrid with wings, talons, and fangs, and a hideous scar curving around his neck. All three were new to Berk, and thus didn't know just what to expect on a night like this.

"Monsters," Hiccup said grimly, then rose up from behind the boulder and pointed at the village below. The three others followed his lead, and gasped in shock.

Vikings, farm animals, and even wild dragons were fleeing in fear from the great beasts that terrorized the village. They came in all shapes and sizes – some flew through the air, others romped about on land, and still others had come from the sea. And all were ravenous, aggressive, and just plain unfriendly.

A group of teenagers ran down to the village with a large barrel of water and a wheelbarrow, aiming to put out a huge fire that was consuming one of the houses. Snaketail eyed them with interest and asked, "Who are they?"

Hiccup replied nonchalantly, "Oh, that's Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Astrid. They're in training to become hunters."

"Hunters?" chirped Arachne.

"Vikings that make a living by slaying monsters," the scrawny boy explained. "They're all tough enough to learn – I'm not though."

He pointed to a particularly large Viking with an impressive beard, who was busy battling a fearsome bird-like monster. "And to make matters worse, that's my dad," Hiccup sighed. "Stoick the Vast, Chief of the Hooligan tribe. When he looks like that, and I look like… this," he continued, gesturing to himself, "you can see why people think I'm not cut out for killing monsters."

Suddenly, Hiccup was hoisted up by the collar of his shirt by a particularly large Viking with an impressive mustache and a hook for a hand. "Oh, nice o' yeh to join the party," he chuckled sarcastically. "I was beginnin' to think you'd been carried off!"

The Viking turned to Arachne, Batwings, and Snaketail and broke into a jolly smile. "So these're the new recruits!" he proclaimed. He pointed to himself with a sausage-like finger and proclaimed, "The name's Gobber! I'm the resident smith 'round these parts. Hiccup here's been me apprentice since he was little – well, _littler_," he considered, looking appraisingly at the boy that dangled from his hook.

"Would you let me go, please?" cried Hiccup. "I need to make my mark!"

"Oh, you've made _plenty_ of marks," retorted Gobber. "All in the wrong places."

Hiccup continued to plead, "Please, two minutes! I'll kill a monster and my life will get infinitely better – I might even get a date!" the boy added, staring none-too-subtly down the hill at Astrid as she ran off for more water.

"If you want ta get out there an' fight monsters," Gobber said wearily, "you need to stop all… this." He gestured at Hiccup with his hand.

"But you just gestured to _all_ of me!" exclaimed Hiccup. "Can you put me down now?!"

Gobber did so with a little chuckle, and began to make his way into the chaotic village. "Alright, kiddies. Stick close to Gobber, and yeh won't get yerselves killed. We're headin' off to me smithy, where it's safer. Kinda."

The group of five made it to Gobber's forge relatively safely, although they had to avoid a terrible, leech-like monster and a trio of startled Gronckles along the way. The burly blacksmith set Hiccup to work sharpening weapons while he worked the anvil, and instructed the other three to help as best as they could.

"Looks like you aren't exactly the toughest Viking in the village," Batwings remarked, fluttering over to a wall upon which many shields hung. He took a shield in his claws and carried it over to an empty bench, then started polishing it.

Hiccup nodded and replied, "Yes, I'm way too muscular for their taste," he sniped, jerking his head toward an orange-and-blue-striped monster that charged at a contingent of Vikings and bowled them over. Almost to himself, the Haddock continued, "But one day I'll get out there. Because killing a monster is everything around here."

With his three new friends gathered around and listening intently, Hiccup went to the forge window and pointed out the various kinds of monsters that were eagerly trying to tear Berk apart and get to the food that they wanted. It seemed as if nothing could stop them, not even the resident dragons.

"A Yian Garuga head will get me at least noticed," he said, as the purple, evil-looking wyvern that Stoick had been battling flew off with a squawk. As it passed, they could see its wolf-like ears and wickedly spiked tail.

"Barroths are tough," Hiccup continued. "Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend." He stared at a building from which a terrible roaring could be heard, and then a gigantic reptilian beast stomped out, smashing its way through the wall with its great, rocky crown.

"And then there's the Rathalos, the King of the Skies," he lectured further. "Only the very best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting things on fire."

As he said this, there was an awesome roar that pealed through the din of battle, and a ruby-red wyvern soared across the village on majestic wings. The Rathalos screeched and rained fireballs down on the plaza, which tore through roofs, cobblestones, and unlucky Vikings.

By this point, Arachne was looking spooked and the other two had expressions of terrified fascination. But before Hiccup could continue his lecturing, a horrible scream tore through the air, and a loud whistling sound could be heard, gaining in volume rapidly. "Oh no," he murmured, and rushed to lean out the forge window so he could scan the dark skies.

"What's going on?" asked Snaketail, noticing how all the Vikings, dragons, and even monsters seemed to be seeking shelter.

"The ultimate prize," Hiccup claimed solemnly. "The monster that no one has ever seen. We call it the –"

And then the words were snatched out of his mouth by a panicked Viking that ran past them, his horrified eyes on a catapult tower that towered, so to speak, above the village.

"GORE MAGALA!"

The scream and the whistling reached its peak, and a burst of black fire shot down from out of nowhere and exploded against the catapult, tearing through it and causing it to collapse. Upon detonation, the fires seemed to become more like dark fog that spread through the village.

Now even Batwings, normally something to be feared, looked frightened.

"Gore Magala," repeated Hiccup. "This thing never steals food, never reveals itself, and" – he winced as another explosion of dark flames destroyed another catapult tower – "never misses. Breathing in its fog causes eel pox. We don't know anything else about it other than the fact that no one has ever killed one. That's why I'm going to be the first."

* * *

**Training Arena, Several Days Later**

"Focus, Hiccup!" cried Gobber from his perch above the arena, just as a blazing fireball crashed into the wall next to his poorest student. Hiccup squeaked in fear, almost dropping his Hunter's Dagger, and ran back through the maze, away from the Yian Garuga that chased him down like a relentless hound.

"Today is all about attack!" called Gobber, letting his voice carry across the arena. "Garugas are quick and light on their feet. Yer job is to be quicker and lighter!"

The Yian Garuga was more than just that – it was sly and tricky. It stopped to listen with its pointed ears, then flew up over a wall and into another corridor. Fishlegs met its evil eyes and shrieked with fear. The wyvern replied with a similar shriek, and flung its poisonous tail spines directly at him. Luckily, the pudgy Ingerman boy managed to block them with his Sword and Shield, the Carapace Mace, as he ran away.

"Look for its blind spot!" continued Gobber, as idly as if discussing the weather. "Every monster has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike!"

The twins ran past Fishlegs and directly into the path of the Yian Garuga. They tried to do as Gobber said, to stay in the blind spot, but they were struggling to do so.

"Do you ever bathe?" grumbled Ruff as she caught a whiff of her brother's body odor.

"If you don't like it, just get your own blind spot," snapped Tuff, knocking her back with his Lance, the Red Prominence.

In response, Ruff swatted him with her Blue Prominence Lance and threatened, "How about I give _you_ one?!"

Their helmeted heads met with a resounding *clang*, alerting the Yian Garuga. It crazily spat fireballs in their direction, sending them scattering down different corridors.

"Blind spot, yes," chuckled Gobber. "Deaf spot… eh, not so much."

The terrible bird-like wyvern began to pursue Astrid, Snotlout, and Batwings, and then cornered them against the wall. A dark smirk crossing its razor-sharp beak, the Garuga closed in on them. Astrid raised her Dual Blades, called the Midnight Blackwings, and met it with a defiant glare.

Before she could attack the Garuga, Snotlout pushed her aside and aimed his Brazen Clout Hammer. "Watch out, babe," he said smoothly. "I'll take care of this overgrown chicken."

With a chuckle, he threw the Brazen Clout with all his might, but missed by a mile. The Hammer thumped against the wall, and the Yian Garuga squawked with laughter.

Batwings was next, tossing each of his Double Deathbolts at the Garuga. The Dual Blades struck its armored shell and bounced harmlessly off. The wyvern kicked the swords away and advanced on them again, this time with a menacing snarl. Astrid punched the Siren viciously in the shoulder and growled, "That's for making it angry."

"The sun was in my eyes, human!" gasped Batwings, rubbing his shoulder.

The three of them – two Viking teenagers and a Siren – scattered at the enraged Yian Garuga's approach. Its eyes locked on Astrid's back, it pursued her with frightening speed, talons barely touching the ground as it raced after her. Hiccup, who was hiding in a corner of the maze, looked up in fear as the walls suddenly started tumbling down.

Astrid appeared at the top of the wall next to him, the Garuga snapped at her heels. The wall shuddered, and began to fall down. Hiccup could only watch in horror as the Hofferson girl screamed, and plummeted down on top of him.

"Oooooh, love on the battlefield!" mocked Tuffnut from behind a fallen wall.

"She could do better," snickered Ruffnut.

Snaketail swatted both of them. Of all the hunter trainees, Snaketail was probably the only one who treated Hiccup nicely. Batwings mostly ignored him, and Arachne was too busy following Astrid admiringly to pay attention to him. The others were just bullies who took delight in Hiccup's misery.

Gobber managed to get into the arena and chase the Yian Garuga back into its cage. The few Vikings that had been watching applauded the teenagers' effort, while Astrid untangled herself from Hiccup and retrieved her swords.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" she demanded of the scrawny boy, who ducked his head protectively when she pointed one of her Midnight Blackwings at him. "Our parents' war is about to become _ours_. Figure out what side you're on."

The girl stalked away, shoving Snotlout to the ground as she did so. Hiccup cautiously brought his head up again, and if anyone were paying much attention to him, they would have seen a curious look in his eye…

* * *

**Secret Cove**

Tentatively, Hiccup crept into the gorge with a fresh fish in his hand. He had discovered this amazing, beautiful cove weeks ago. It was located in the deep woods, where no one ever went, and was simply the perfect place to spend some peaceful time alone. Birds chirped in the massive tree whose roots spilled over the edge of the cliff walls and down into the ground below, and the waters of the lake shimmered in the afternoon sunlight.

But Hiccup knew that he was no longer alone in this secret place. Only a couple of days ago, he had had the absolutely staggering luck to have shot down the Gore Magala before it could spread more of its diseased black fog. And yesterday, he had found it again, trapped with an injured wing inside the place he loved.

A low growl caught his attention, and Hiccup spun around nervously, holding the fish close to him like a security blanket. He cautiously made his way further into the cove, passing a great, flat boulder that was awash in sunlight. A gleaming black shell caught his eye, and he spun around again, this time to face the boulder.

And there it was.

The Gore Magala.

It was blacker than night, with a shiny and almost insect-like skin that shone like onyx. Its two arms were tucked close to its body, the claws gripping its shoulders tightly, while the sleek, furry wings swept over and around its body like a ragged cloak – at least, one of them did, as its injured left arm hung limply at its side, the fur on its wing messy and bedraggled.

The Gore Magala stealthily crept forward on four powerful legs while its cloak dragged behind it. Its head extended forward, and Hiccup was shocked to see that it had no eyes – the beast's head was totally covered in hard black armor, with two ridges where the eyes were supposed to have been.

Faint wisps of black fog trailed from its furred wings, and Hiccup nervously took a step back at the sight of them. Eel pox was something he didn't want.

The Gore Magala sniffed him cautiously and snarled. It was suspicious.

Hiccup pulled his coat back to reveal the dagger that he kept lashed to his waist. Somehow, the Magala could smell the cold metal, and hissed harshly. It was clear that the monster wanted it gone.

Drawing a shaky breath and holding it, Hiccup, drew his dagger and quickly tossed it away. It skidded across a rock and fell with a soft *plop* into the lake. The Gore Magala heard it and observed Hiccup with more curiosity – at least, Hiccup thought it did. It was hard to tell on something without eyes.

"Here, bud…" the Haddock boy murmured, holding out the fish with a grimace. He wouldn't put it past the Magala to try and bite his hand off. "Take the tasty –"

The Gore Magala lunged, its ferocious jaws open wide, and snapped the fish up. With a quick toss of its head, the fish was down its throat. It licked its chops and stared at Hiccup sightlessly, almost as if it was looking through him. There was something about its "gaze" that simultaneously frightened and thrilled Hiccup. Like this was the start of something.

His hand was still outstretched. The Magala inched toward it cautiously, as if afraid that it would bite. "It's alright, bud," soothed Hiccup. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm… a friend."

It was at that moment that something arose in Hiccup with amazing clarity. He was the Gore Magala's friend. He was friends with the very thing he wanted to destroy – or _thought_ he wanted to, anyway.

The Gore Magala stretched its head closer and made contact with Hiccup's hand, growling softly. Hiccup found its cold, hard shell smooth and oddly comforting to touch.

The boy smiled, and patted the monster's muzzle with his other hand. "Hey there, Sightless," he said quietly. "I'm Hiccup."

He could have sworn the Magala smiled when its tongue flicked out to gently lick his nose.

* * *

**Berk Village, A Day Later**

Hiccup watched in horror as Spitelout and Gobber held the thrashing Siren down forcefully to the ground. Batwings looked as if he had gone insane – the dragon had shapeshifted into his true, twenty-foot-long serpentine form, and was putting up a terrible fight. His monstrous jaws were open wide to display long, thin fangs, his forked tongue lolled on the ground, and his wings and tail flapped madly. The screeches coming from his mouth sounded like the most horrible curses coming from the depths of Hel itself.

"This is the third outbreak of eel pox this week," murmured Stoick, cautiously approaching Batwings. The delirious dragon snapped hostilely at his fingers, almost tearing his hand off. "We're going to need Goathi again to heal your friend, son."

Hiccup gulped. "A-Are you sure her antidote will… you know, cure him?" he asked.

"Of course, Hiccup," Stoick told him. "Still… the other dragons around Berk are getting sick as well. Have you noticed?"

"Yes, Dad," Hiccup replied quickly. "But…"

"It won't be long before the eel pox starts spreading to the village," Stoick continued, oblivious to his son's protests. "I haven't stopped thinking about what you said after that last monster raid, Hiccup, about how you claimed to shoot down the Gore Magala. If you did… and if it has survived… we will have to hunt it down and put a stop to its virus once and for all."

* * *

**That does it for now. So, readers, how do you like this story so far? It will combine elements of both Monster Hunter and HTTYD – which are similar enough to make me wonder why there is only one other crossover on this site.**

**Anyway, tell me how I'm doing so far! Review please, and look out for the next part of Chapter 1!**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 1_**

**_What Has Gone Before Part 2_**

**I realize that a lot of you are upset that I discontinued the original "Legends are Born" on such short notice. I promise, this new fanfiction will clear up any mysteries that I left untouched in the original – including what eventually happened to Batwings and the presence of a creature called "Fulgur".**

* * *

**Great Hall, Midnight**

Hiccup silently walked into the empty Great Hall, a candle in his hand. Earlier, he and the other hunter trainees had eaten dinner with Gobber, which had consisted mostly of his comrades picking on him. He didn't mind – he was used to it.

As he suspected, the Book of Monsters was still where Gobber had left it. Hiccup pushed aside a dirty plate and sat down at the table, pulling the candle close so he had enough light to read by. He opened the book to the first page.

"Monster classifications," he read softly to himself. "Brute wyverns… bird wyverns… leviathans… snake wyverns…"

He turned the pages of the book as if it were a poisonous snake. The first page showed a detailed sketch of a stingray-like Gobul. "This reclusive monster inhabits dark tide pools and murky swamps," he read. "When startled, the Gobul can release a blinding light from its lantern to incapacitate its enemy. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

Hiccup flipped another page, this one depicting a brutish-looking Uragaan. "The Uragaan feasts on hard rocks and metals to build up its shell. Its lower jaw features a chin capable of pounding boulders to rubble. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

He skipped a few pages and stopped at the sight of a horrid-looking wyvern with glowing purple organs adorning its face and tail. "Gigginoxes lurk in cold, icy caves where they detect prey using heat. When hunting, they ambush their prey from above before dousing it in deadly poison. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

Impatient now, Hiccup flipped to another chapter. "Tigrex," he recited, eyeing the monstrous-looking thing. "These wyverns are short-tempered and brutal. They can produce a powerful roar that can cause a man's eardrums to explode. Kill on sight."

Growing increasingly dissatisfied with the book's information, Hiccup continued flipping pages, discouraged by the information he found on each page. He started out by simply reading each monster's name, but his voice grew increasingly louder and more frustrated…

"Gendrome. Lavasioth. The Ceadeus. Duramboros. Kushala Daora. Burns its victims. Slashes its victims. Squashes its victims. Pecks its victims' eyes out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight…"

Finally, it grew to be too much for Hiccup. He pushed the book away, nearly putting out the candle as he did so. It flickered wildly as the boy slumped in his seat, his heart pounding.

"Everything we know about the monsters," he whispered to himself, remembering when he had made friends with the Gore Magala, "is wrong. Completely, utterly, undeniably… wrong."

* * *

**Training Arena, Weeks Later**

The crowd was chanting Hiccup's name as he stepped into the arena, his Hunter's Dagger in his hand, his shield up, and his helmet equipped. Snotlout, Tuff, Fishlegs, Arachne… even all of the other teens were cheering for him. He had gained their respect in the past few weeks, but he didn't want their respect.

They only liked him because he was good at fighting monsters. And he no longer wanted to fight monsters.

Not after Sightless had opened his eyes for him (ironically).

"Well, I can show my face in public again!" bellowed Stoick, and the Vikings collectively roared with laughter.

The Chief raised a hand for quiet, and continued, "If anyone had told me that, within a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from being… well, _Hiccup_, to placing _first in hunter training_, then I would've tied 'em to a mast, and shipped 'em off for fear they'd gone mad!"

This time, he laughed along with the crowd. When everyone had quieted down, Stoick adjusted his helmet and continued in a solemn voice, "But here we are. And no one is more surprised – or more proud – than I am. Today, my boy becomes a Viking. Today, he becomes one of us!"

The cheering became louder than ever, and it made Hiccup feel sick to the pit of his stomach. It felt like the fish he had eaten that morning was trying to swim back up his throat.

"Be careful with that monster," murmured Astrid, who stood beside him.

"It's not the monster I'm worried about," Hiccup replied. He looked up at his ecstatic father, a lump in his throat making it hard to swallow. "It's my Dad."

Astrid was silent for a second. Then – "What're you going to do?"

"I'm through with the lies," he told her. "I'm putting a stop to all this. I have to try. And Astrid, if something goes wrong…"

He cut himself off when Astrid made a sound like a combination between a sob and a whimper, and rushed into him. She hugged him tightly and buried her face in his neck. She knew that deep down, under the layers of stoniness and pride that she had built up over the years, she didn't want him to leave.

The Hofferson girl let go of Hiccup just as Gobber walked past them, heading out of the arena. "It's time, Hiccup," he said with a chuckle. "Knock 'em dead." He patted the scrawny Chief-to-be on the back and left. Astrid gave Hiccup a parting wave and a sad smile before she left as well.

Gobber closed the cage door, locking Hiccup in. He was alone, but that was about to change any minute now. And the company he'd be getting wouldn't be very pleasant.

"I'm ready," he murmured, holding his metal shield up and readying his Hunter's Dagger.

The cage across from him unlocked. It burst open as a terrifying, orange-and-blue monster crashed through the doors, its razor-sharp claws grating on the stone floor. The Tigrex spread its wings and emitted a roar that shook the sky, startling a quartet of colorful Deadly Nadders off their perches above the arena.

Hiccup drew a long, shaking breath. His heart pounded in his chest so loudly that he was sure everyone could hear it. Despite his fear, he advanced on the Tigrex, which narrowed its eyes and began to stalk slowly forwards.

"It's okay," he murmured softly, dropping his Hunter's Dagger with an audible *clink*. The crowd gasped quietly and muttered amongst themselves, even as the Tigrex began to back him against the arena wall.

"It's okay," Hiccup repeated, dropping his shield. "I'm not one of them."

The arena was suddenly silent as the audience heard these soft words. Snotlout and the rest gaped, staring at the soon-to-be hunter below them.

The Tigrex pinned Hiccup against the wall, but made no move to attack him. Hiccup extended a hand cautiously, and when the Tigrex didn't react, he gently patted its muzzle.

"Stop the fight," ordered Stoick, having seen enough.

"No!" Hiccup shot back with surprising force, startling his father into silence. "I want you all to see this."

Continuing to pet the Tigrex, he walked around to the back of its head and hopped onto its neck. The monster stiffened as it felt the human riding on it, but relaxed when Hiccup stroked its forehead. It began to pace the arena, allowing everyone to clearly see the boy sitting calmly on its neck.

"They're not what we think they are," claimed Hiccup, gripping the Tigrex's horns confidently. "We don't have to kill them."

"Stop the fight!" repeated Stoick in a roar, bashing his hammer against the chain-linked barrier that covered the arena.

The noise startled the Tigrex, and it went berserk. Throwing Hiccup off of its back with a mighty roar, it began to go on a rampage. Everything rapidly descended into chaos as Vikings backed away from the arena and the teens raced toward the entrance, intending to save their friend.

But it was too late, as a black shape plunged out from the blue sky, spreading a black fog behind it and screeching loudly enough to stun the panicking Vikings into silence.

The unfamiliar monster leapt into the arena and threw the Tigrex away from Hiccup, snarling and clawing at the wyvern ferociously. Gobber spoke the name on everyone's minds in a harsh whisper –

"Gore Magala!"

* * *

**Hiccup's House, a Week Later**

_"Just hang in there, Sightless! Just a little bit longer!" urged Hiccup, as he pulled Sightless into a controlled dive, on a straight and narrow collision course with the ground. The gigantic and evil Fatalis plunged down through the thick black clouds after them, enraged to the point of madness._

_"Hold, Sightless…" murmured Hiccup, catching sight of the gas forming at the back of the Fatalis' throat. "And… NOW!" he cried, pulling hard on the saddle and causing Sightless to flip over in the air._

_Facing his old ruler, Sightless opened his jaws and spat a ball of roiling black fire into the Fatalis' mouth. The gas ignited, and the empress of the monsters roared in agony as the back of her throat began to burn. The burnt gaps in her wings were ripped into larger and larger holes as the wind raced past her._

_The Fatalis emitted one last roar, which was joined by the hiss and crackle of hungry, dark flames. Vikings, dragons, and monsters scattered, knowing that the empress was about to die and that they would as well, if they didn't get away in time. Hiccup and Sightless tried to fly away as well, but Sightless' injured wing had already been pushed far past its limit._

_The limb crumpled, Sightless screamed in pain, and the two of them began to fall, even as the Fatalis hit the ground and exploded violently behind them, the flames rushing to consume them…_

* * *

Hiccup woke up from the nightmare to see the familiar, eyeless face staring down at him. "Hey, Sightless," he rasped, starting to sit up against his headboard. The Gore Magala enthusiastically licked his face, but as he advanced, he accidentally stepped on Hiccup's stomach. He gasped and doubled over in pain, suddenly wide-awake, then began to see his surroundings with more clarity.

"Uh, I'm in my house," he stated. "You're in my house!" he added when he looked back at Sightless. "Does Dad know you're in –"

Sightless' claws had caught on his blanket and ripped it off of him, allowing Hiccup to see just what had happened to him. He hadn't gotten through the battle on Monster Island unscathed after all – from the knee down, his left leg was gone, replaced by a spring-loaded, metallic prosthetic leg.

Hiccup stared at the metal leg in horror for a few seconds, then tried getting out of bed. He wobbled on the first step, but fell down on the second step. Gasping in pain again, Hiccup felt tears come to his eyes. But Sightless was there to help him, nudging him back into a standing position and allowing his human friend to lean against his shoulder.

"Thanks, bud," whispered Hiccup weakly, hopping toward the door and dragging his half-leg behind him. With the Gore Magala's help, Hiccup managed to limp across the room and open the door.

But suddenly, a snarling Tigrex greeted him outside, and Hiccup instinctively slammed the door shut in fear. "Sightless, stay here," he ordered, and gingerly opened the door again.

He blinked. That wasn't Snotlout on the Tigrex's back, was it?

"Come on, guys! Get ready!" the Jorgenson boy whooped, and soared off. The rest of the teens followed behind him, all flying on their own monsters!

And if that wasn't shocking enough, Hiccup walked outside to behold a truly jaw-dropping sight – the sight of Vikings, dragons, and monsters living and peace and harmony in his own village. The houses of Berk had Deadly Nadders and Yian Garugas perching on them, and the central torches had been lowered to provide a massive seafood bonfire for hungry Gronckles, Zipplebacks, Khezus, Rathaloses, and more.

_Just what madness is this?_ Hiccup thought. _Am I delirious? Did I die and go to Valhalla?_

"I knew it," he said to himself, numb with shock and awe. "I'm dead."

There was a hearty laugh, and Stoick walked up the stairs to pat him on the back. "No, but you gave it your best shot!" he said with a chuckle. "So, what do you think?" he added, gesturing out at the impossible scene before him.

The Vikings going about their business suddenly looked up as Hiccup and his father descended down the hill and into the village. "Hey, it's Hiccup! It's Hiccup!" cried Spitelout, and all of a sudden a crowd of villagers were running up to welcome him back. Their friendly voices, their words of congratulations and encouragement, and even their good-natured punches to the shoulder made Hiccup smile more widely every time.

Stoick pushed his way to the front of the crowd and told his son, in a voice almost too choked with emotion to speak, "I guess all the island needed was a little more of… this."

"You just gestured to all of me," Hiccup said incredulously, looking at his dad's outstretched hands.

All of a sudden, his friends were there, excitedly shoving their way through the crowd of adults to swarm him. Snotlout pumped his cousin's hand enthusiastically, telling him how much more manly he looked without his leg. Fishlegs gave him a crushing bear hug, lifting him into the air and spinning him around. Ruff and Tuff each punched him on either shoulder. Batwings and Snaketail just smiled, while Arachne hugged him around the waist and chattered about how awesome he was.

And then there was Astrid. She slugged him savagely, just before her face softened and she rushed into him, kissing him full on the lips.

Being greeted by the entire population of Berk, which was unanimously happy to see him alive and well, and the teenagers he initially thought were jerks, but turned out to be the greatest friends he could have asked for – it moved Hiccup to tears.

Sightless ran out the doors of his house and down to Hiccup's side, fed up with waiting inside. The others gathered the monsters they had bonded with during the battle on Monster Island and mounted them, silently beckoning Hiccup to come join them.

With a heartfelt "Welcome home," Gobber handed Hiccup an excellently-made, brand-new splint for Sightless' wing. As soon as the Haddock boy attached it to the Gore Magala's wing, he took off after his friends.

Hiccup smiled as he rode Sightless across the skies over Berk. His smile grew into a giddy grin as he looked to each of his friends' backs, and marveled at the skill with which they rode their monsters.

They were monster riders now, and would live their new lives to the absolute fullest.

And now that they lived with monsters, creatures beyond all imagining, their lives now had the potential to get _a lot_ fuller!

* * *

_This is Berk._

_It snows nine months of the year and hails the other three._

_The food that grows here is tough and tasteless, and the people that grow here are even more so._

_The only upsides are the pets. While most people have ponies or parrots…_

_We have monsters._

* * *

**Thus ends the first chapter! Now you readers know, indeed, just "what has gone before".**

**What do you think, readers? Is this any better than the original "Legends are Born"? Let me know!**

**The next chapter will start very soon! Stay tuned – and make sure to give me a review and perhaps a bit of feedback! Feedback is always appreciated.**

**Up next: How to Start a Monster Academy**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 2**_

_**How to Start a Monster Academy Part 1**_

* * *

_This is Berk._

_For generations, it was Viking against monster. The battles were ferocious. Then one day, everything changed – I met Sightless. And together, we've shown people here that instead of fighting monsters, we can ride them, live with them, and even train them._

* * *

**Sea Around Berk**

It was the early afternoon, and the Vikings of Berk were pouring out of the Great Hall after eating a hearty lunch. It was time for them to finish their work for the day, and then get a good night's sleep for the next day of toil. As they often said, the Viking life was the simple life.

However, there were a few Vikings that didn't head down to the village. The teenagers – Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Astrid Hofferson, Snotlout Jorgenson, Fishlegs Ingerman, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston, Snaketail Grundenson, Arachne Philston, and Batwings – immediately ran down to their homes, retrieved their monster companions from their stables, and took off for the maze of rock spires that rose up from the deep ocean off the northern coast of Berk. They had planned to meet there after lunch for a bit of recreation. And as monster riders, they took 'recreation' to a whole new level.

Hiccup smiled as he and his Gore Magala, Sightless, lightly touched down on the peak of the tallest rock spire of all. Alongside him were all of his friends – boys and girls that had initially treated him like nothing, but proved loyal and true in the end, during the battle with the terrible Fatalis.

First was Astrid Hofferson, rider of a menacing Yian Garuga and only the best young Viking on the entire island. She had been one of Hiccup's first supporters, ever since he took her for a flight around Berk on Sightless' back. That almost magical time had changed her forever, and convinced her that Hiccup was anything but a scrawny screw-up, and everything she had ever wanted in a friend.

Snaketail often teased her about having a possible crush on the boy, but teasing Astrid wasn't a smart thing.

Then there was the arrogant Snotlout Jorgenson, rider of a terrifying Tigrex and Hiccup's obnoxious cousin. He used to be the biggest bully in the village, and it was only when Hiccup started to display his remarkable talent for taming wild monsters did he begin to respect the much smaller boy. He was slightly narcissistic and a terrible flirt, but when it came right down to it, he was respectful and obedient.

Fishlegs Ingerman, rider of a bulky Gravios and the brains of the group, was next. He was even bigger than Snotlout, but he was much more timid and preferred safety over adventure. He wasn't nearly as competitive as the others, but still joined in their various games for the fun of it. He was also terrible at keeping secrets.

The twins, Ruff and Tuff Thorston, were more clueless than Snotlout and fought with each other constantly. They rode a Lunastra and a Teostra, respectively, and loved nothing more than abusing their monsters' ability to spread explosive powder. Indeed, destruction was what they loved most. Although they weren't intelligent and couldn't stand each other for the most part, they could be a huge threat when they decided to work as a team under Hiccup's leadership. Ruff in particular had a huge crush on the scrawny Haddock boy, and because of that was almost obsessively loyal to him.

Snaketail Grundenson was a foreigner to Berk, who had lost her entire family during a monster raid. Despite this, she managed to forge a bond with a temperamental Diablos. She was more competitive than Snotlout and had a bit of a temper, but she was mostly slow to anger and was unassumingly smart.

Arachne Philston was the youngest of the group, and appropriately rode the smallest monster, a Remobra. Like most ten-year old girls, she was enthusiastic, optimistic, and a quick learner – and unlike most ten-year old girls, she was a skilled enough rider to join the otherwise-entirely-teenaged group in their adventures. She admired Astrid, practically worshipped her in fact, and did her best to be just like the Hofferson girl.

And then there was Batwings. He was the only dragon of the group, a Siren to be precise. Normally, he resembled a gigantic eel with wings and emerald-and-blue scales, but he could shapeshift into a hybrid of Viking and dragon, which was a disguise that his kind used to lure human prey. However, Batwings had forsaken a diet of Vikings in favor of a relationship with Hiccup and his friends, and was one of the group's most competent members. He was fully devoted to them, and trusted them completely. Although he had wings of his own, he rode a Qurupeco alongside his friends.

"Are you just going to stare at us all day?" Astrid teased, walloping Hiccup on the shoulder.

Hiccup shook his head to bring himself out of his thoughts. "Ah, sorry about that," he apologized sheepishly. "Now, what was I going to say… ah yes! Best trick competition! Who's going first?"

Fishlegs raised his hand to volunteer, but Snotlout almost immediately butted in. "Me!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Actually," Fishlegs said timidly, "I think it's" –

"Me!" repeated Snotlout, leaning back on his Tigrex's neck and pointing to himself confidently.

Snorting impatiently, Astrid grumbled, "Oh, sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm. _Go!_"

"Don't worry, we'll go," the Jorgenson boy said smugly. "And when we go, Snotsnarl and I are gonna light the sky on – FIIIIIIIRE!"

Suddenly, his boasting ended in a terrified scream. Snotsnarl (which was what he had named his Tigrex, after himself of course) leapt off the island in the middle of his rider's big talk and dove straight down toward the water. At the last second, the Tigrex leveled out and flew wildly through the maze of rock spires, taking his rider on a winding, erratic course. And all the while, Snotlout screamed his head off. In fact, he screamed without stopping to catch his breath even once.

Tiring of the noise his rider was making, Snotsnarl soared high into the sky and then folded his wings and dove straight into the water, cutting off Snotlout's screaming abruptly.

The two of them burst out of the water about four tense seconds later. Snotsnarl spread his dripping wings and did a few more lazy circles in the air, then dropped down upon our rock spire in his previous position. He shook himself dry and gave a satisfied grunt.

"I'm alive?" asked Snotlout in wonderment, feeling himself all over. He stood up and whooped, "_I'm alive!_"

When he caught everyone looking at him with amusement, he added indignantly, "I mean, of course I am."

"It's my turn!" enthused Fishlegs when Snotlout had settled back down. "Ready, Heatray?" he asked his Gravios, who replied with a rumbling growl.

"Then here we go!" the Ingerman cheered, as the heavy wyvern flapped clumsily into the air. His huge wings chopped the air loudly as he slowly flew in a small circle around the spire, before making a landing that shook the spire.

"Yes!" cried Fishlegs, bending down to hug Heatray. "New personal best!"

Heatray growled and tilted his head upward, licking his rider on the cheek.

"Uh, my turn!" chirped Snaketail, quickly taking her skeptical gaze away from the ecstatic Fishlegs. "Let's go, Twinhorn! Up!"

Her Diablos grunted and lurched into the air. The wyvern's heavy head made her flight slow and difficult, but she still flew steadily and strongly around the maze. After making a wide circle around the natural obstacle course, Twinhorn sped up and flew straight for a sturdy-looking spire. Her huge horns smashed into it powerfully, causing the rock to shatter into rubble that flew in all directions.

"Twinhorn, whack 'em!" ordered Snaketail.

Emitting a confident roar, Twinhorn lashed out repeatedly with her clubbed tail, swinging it left and right. On each swing, she whacked a human head-sized rock right toward the others. Each rock landed neatly in front of a monster, and Snaketail and Twinhorn simply looped back around and settled down in their original position.

"My turn!" shouted Ruffnut.

"No, my turn!" retorted Tuffnut.

Hiccup sighed. "Why don't you go at the same time, guys?" he suggested exasperatedly.

"Oh, right," Tuff said, eyes lighting up. "Good idea!"

He and Ruff bumped fists before urging Queen and King, their Lunastra and Teostra, into the air. Their flights started out smooth enough, but they began to get into each other's way. The twins started arguing atop their monsters, not even noticing the rock spire that got in their way until it was too late.

They crashed magnificently, of course.

Queen and King steadied themselves and looked at each other, having become fed up with their riders' behavior. They nodded in unison, and, as one, the lion-like monsters reared up and bucked the twins off of their backs, hurling them into the air.

"WHOOOOOAA! WHOA NO!" yelled Tuffnut, just as he started falling. "This is awesome and scary!"

In the nick of time, before they would have plunged into the ocean, Queen and King swooped down and made a perfect, simultaneous catch. They tossed their heads and threw the twins back on board, and flew back in for a landing.

"Ugh…" gasped Ruff, slumping against the Lunastra's head. "We almost _died_."

"I know," panted Tuff, and suddenly sat up straight. "Go again?!" he asked enthusiastically.

"Hey, it's my turn!" snapped Astrid, before turning to me with a self-confident smirk on her face. "You might want to take notes," she teased, and then launched into the air.

"Alright, Blackhawk, tail flip!" the Hofferson girl commanded, and her Yian Garuga obediently skimmed across the water, sending up a magnificent spray of water.

"Now twirl!" cried Astrid, and Blackhawk immediately folded her wings and turned sharply upward while spinning dizzyingly.

"Upward spiral!" Astrid finished. With a screech, the dark wyvern soared high into the sky, executing a series of ascending spirals.

"Alright, Blackhawk!" cheered Astrid, before steering the Garuga back beside Hiccup and Sightless. He smiled encouragingly at her, and she took a sarcastic bow.

"Yeah, pretty good," said Snotlout cockily. "But can you do it without the monster?"

Astrid slugged him in the shoulder savagely, and he quieted.

"I'm next!" chirped Arachne, and clung to her Remobra more tightly. "Show them what you've got, Venomwing!"

The snake wyvern made a sound somewhere between a hiss and a shriek before leaping off the rock spire. She looped and twirled through the air on wings that were twice her size, before skimming the water and heading straight for the spire on which the gang was gathered. She shot upward with a mighty *whoosh*, sending up a wind that blew into their faces. Arachne and Venomwing then landed back on the spire with satisfied grins.

"Looks like it's our turn already, Mocktalk!" said Batwings, flexing his wings and smiling up at his Qurupeco's colorful face. The bird wyvern squawked and did a little dance on the spot, getting himself ready.

"Mock…talk?" inquired Fishlegs.

"That has to be the stupidest name for a monster I've ever heard," sneered Snotlout. "You could have at least given that flying freak show a name that made him a little bit more intimidating."

Mocktalk, insulted, spread out his heart-shaped tail and allowed it to flush bright red. He squawked loudly at Snotlout, his beak flaring into a trumpet shape that would give the noise a bit more volume.

"You and your overgrown monitor lizard should get your notebooks out," taunted Batwings. "That is, if you can read or write."

And with that, the Qurupeco jumped off the spire, tripping clumsily as he did so and thus falling a few meters before recovering. The trick he performed was nothing particularly special at first – Mocktalk flew surprisingly swiftly for such a klutzy monster, and there were a few acrobatic stunts thrown in, such as loop-de-loops and fancy twirls, but it wasn't anything really jaw-dropping.

That was when Batwings gave the word, and Mocktalk dove straight for the spire, pulling up at the last minute and swooping low over the group. A rush of wind caused them all to look away and grimace, and they all looked up to see the duo circling above them. Mocktalk's crimson throat sac inflated, and he crowed in a voice that sounded just like Snotlout's;

"Mocktalk, Mocktalk, oi oi oi!"

Astrid and Hiccup burst out laughing while Snotlout turned redder than the Qurupeco's pouch. "Idiotic duck…" he muttered, hiding his blushing face from everyone.

Hiccup smiled down at Sightless, a leftover chuckle escaping his mouth. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us, bud," he said nonchalantly.

The Gore Magala growled confidently, and tensed for what he and his rider had prepared for.

He didn't just dive – Sightless jumped headfirst off of the spire, spreading his furry wings and diving straight down at impossible speed. Face rippling slightly, Hiccup pulled hard on the saddle, and they leveled out just above the water. They flew so fast and so close, a spray of water rushed behind them, and the wind whistled loudly through Sightless' splint.

Then, it was just like those old, secret flights across the ocean, back when Hiccup had first made friends with the Gore Magala. They zoomed around every obstacle in their path, effortlessly racing through the maze. But the big finish was still coming, at a rock arch that stood separate from the other spires. As they rapidly neared it, Hiccup unhooked his prosthetic foot from the saddle's stirrup, stood up, and jumped off of Sightless' back.

He landed on the arch, and immediately ran across it. Time seemed to slow down as he took long, confident strides across the grass-covered stone. Just in time, he made it to the other side and landed on Sightless again. He slipped his feet into the saddle's stirrups and pulled again on the edge of the saddle, coaxing the monster up into the air. Sightless let out a great, screaming roar, a sound that rang unmistakably with triumph.

Back on the spire, Astrid nodded to herself. "Yep, they're still the best," she commented.

"For now," Snaketail added, allowing a smirk to cross her face. "Twinhorn and I won't make it so easy for him next time."

* * *

**Village Plaza, an Hour Later**

Sightless landed on the ground inside the village, clumsily folding his injured wing up against his side again. Hiccup was beginning to relax after their exhilarating flight over the ocean with his friends, but the sight that he beheld upon walking into the plaza fixed that up _real _good.

Dragons had always inhabited Berk, and had been widely regarded as simply pesky animals that made life inconvenient for those who took strolls in the woods. However, they were now welcome in the village alongside the much fiercer monsters, and as the two kinds of beasts made themselves at home in the village, the people were having a very hard time trying to control them. While the dragons were peaceful enough, the monsters were more destructive and more territorial.

In the plaza, it was utter chaos for the fifth day in a row. This time, even the dragons seemed to be getting in the way as the monsters romped around like they owned the place. As Hiccup looked on with a grimace, a pair of Terrible Terrors stole food from a frustrated Viking. He tore his gaze away, only to see a trio of Yian Garugas perching on the roof of another Viking. The boy turned around again, and witnessed a Monstrous Nightmare and a Gigginox fighting over a sack of apples that they had stolen from yet another Viking.

When Hiccup looked at all this mess, he couldn't help but wonder if life had been better when the monsters were their enemies.

"Look out!" cried Gobber from his forge. He pointed at the sky with his hook and continued, "Incoming! Monster poo!"

Everywhere, Vikings took shelter as quickly as they could. A great thrumming sound could be heard as a pack of winged monsters of all kinds flew over the plaza, dropping fist-sized lumps of disgusting dung. There were even a few dragons within the flock, letting loose their own boiling hot excrement that hissed loudly when it hit the ground.

"Ew, gross!" Hiccup exclaimed, ducking out of the way of a bomb and running for cover. "Oh, poop! Oh man, that's disgusting…"

The thrumming sound faded, and the cries of panic went away as well. Hiccup looked to either side of him and found himself in between Mulch and Bucket, two Vikings whose job was to take care of the fishing and farming aspects of Berk life. Neither were very bright, but then again, not many Vikings were.

"Hey Mulch," sighed Hiccup. "Hey Bucket. Sorry about the, ah…"

"Every day at three," commented Bucket idly. "The regular at least. Tip of the cap."

"Better were the days where it was kill or be killed," Mulch said with regret, then suddenly brightened. "Hey! We got some fish for that father of yours! Bucket, give the boy the cod," he added to his companion.

Bucket held up a torn sack without any fish inside of it. He looked at it, completely bewildered, and wondered, "Did I eat it already? Did I enjoy it?"

"Uh, no, Bucket," Hiccup hastened to correct him. "The, uh… dragon did."

The three of them simultaneously looked into the shadows beside them. In the small space between two houses, a juvenile Hideous Zippleback glared back at us, grabbed the fish it had stolen, and slithered into the darkness.

"The dragons too," lamented Mulch. "They were never a problem before, so why are they now? The monsters are troublesome enough, don'tcha think?"

"I don't much like monsters," complained Bucket. "I like rabbits though. So fluffy and small… aww, I'm getting all warm inside just thinkin' about it."

Just as the plaza began to go back to normal, and Vikings began to go about their business once again, a hostile voice cut through the afternoon quiet like a knife through butter. Stoick and Gobber, who were standing in front of a huge warehouse while they oversaw the storage of food for the winter, turned around at the sound of the unpleasant voice. Hiccup, Mulch, and Bucket stopped talking in order to better listen.

"Oh, here comes Mildew with the complaint o' the day!" commented Gobber.

Hiccup swallowed thickly. The appearance of the old man and his pet sheep, Fungus, in the village was never a good thing – Mildew was always grumpy and did his best to spread it around. He always had something to complain about, and this time, Hiccup could guess what it was from the fresh burn mark on his gnarled hand, the same one that clutched firmly at his Tigrex tooth-adorned walking staff.

"You picked a bad time, Mildew," Stoick said harshly. "I'm in the middle of storing food. The freeze is coming."

But Mildew was as persistent as he was bad-tempered. "It's the monsters again," he snarled. "Those demons are not fit to live around civilized men, and neither are their animal compatriots the dragons."

"And neither are you, Mildew," laughed Gobber. "Why'd yeh think we built yer house so far outside o' town?"

Despite himself, Hiccup and several other Vikings chuckled at the blacksmith's humor. But Stoick just glared, and Mildew certainly wasn't amused.

"Very well, make your jokes," he growled. "Meanwhile, these monsters are rubbing our village raw! They're reducing houses into piles of rubble! They even disturb an old man's rest. Can't you see these bags under me eyes?"

"I agree, he's hideous," said Gobber, after exchanging a skeptical look with Stoick.

Meanwhile, a crowd had begun to gather and shout their approval of Mildew's protest. The old man continued, turning to the crowd, "These are wild and unpredictable beasts! They even cracked this man's skull like an egg." He rapped Bucket on the head with his staff, which made an audible ringing sound.

"Eggs?" said Bucket himself, clueless as always. "I love eggs! Scrambled, over easy, poached!"

"The dragons are even starting to join in this madness!" claimed Mildew, pointing at a Gronckle that was currently gnawing on the roof of the house it perched on. "Stoick, you need to put those monsters in cages. If you don't, they'll continue to influence the dragons, and together, they'll eat us out of house and home and destroy the entire village!"

Mildew's voice hit its loudest volume yet, and was backed up by the furious cries and shouts of the crowd. Stoick kept up his fierce glare, not perturbed in the least.

"They don't mean any harm," Hiccup told the villagers, stepping up beside his father. Sightless followed him as usual. The Haddock boy continued, "They're just monsters being monsters."

"And dragons being dragons," added Batwings, jumping down from the roof of the storehouse. "We've always been harmless! I don't claim to know why the other dragons are becoming more aggressive, but it surely isn't their fault."

At last, Stoick stepped forth to take charge. "Look, Mildew," he said in a voice that left no room for argument. "If there's a problem, then _I_ will deal with it."

But Mildew _always_ managed to find an argument. "Oh, there's a problem, Stoick. And I think I speak for the entire village when I say that you better do something about it."

The unpleasant old man stalked off in irritation, and the crowd dispersed as well. Hiccup and Batwings looked at each other worriedly, the questions in both their gazes clear – _Just what is going on with the dragons' change in behavior? And how can we control the monsters before they do just as Mildew said?_

* * *

**Hiccup's House**

The dark, comforting atmosphere of the house, for once, couldn't do anything to quell the feeling of unease that pressed down upon its inhabitants. Not even the flickering light of the fire in the fire pit could burn away the tension in the atmosphere. Hiccup sat on a stool and brushed the fur on Sightless' wings, worried thoughts chasing each other around in his mind. Gobber did some woodwork in the corner of the room, grimly silent, while Stoick paced around the room.

Batwings was also there, lying down on one of the rafters. Ever since he had arrived on Berk, Hiccup and Stoick had given him a place to stay. The humanoid dragon originally came from a faraway place called Siren Island, named after the abundance of Sirens living in its waters. The Hooligan tribe had good relations with the Peaceable tribe there, and thus knew that the Sirens were a peaceful and civilized species – until they got hungry. Thus, the Chief of Berk hadn't seen any problem in allowing Batwings to stay.

Something Batwings always told his friends was that Berk would never be his home. If the monsters got too chaotic, he could just leave without any regrets. He didn't worry about him and the other dragons getting banished from Berk. But Hiccup, for one, always saw through him when he said that. Batwings loved it here on Berk.

"We can't just let the monsters run around like they own the place," Stoick muttered. Then he brightened and added, "We… we could put up signs!"

Hiccup looked up from Sightless' wings and at his father. "Signs? For monsters?" he asked incredulously.

"Not for the monsters," replied Stoick, "for the people!"

Now it was Gobber's turn to speak up. "Signs? Fer Vikings?" he said skeptically. "We aren't big readers, Stoick."

"Then we'll build a huge net and stretch it around the plaza!" continued Stoick, impatiently.

Gobber spoke up again. "Nets? Yeh do know some of 'em breathe fire."

"And all the dragons do," Hiccup added somberly.

Stoick suddenly seemed ready to give up. "Maybe Mildew was right," he sighed.

"Wait, Dad!" Hiccup piped up, and pushed his stool aside. "How about you let me take care of the monsters? And Batwings take care of the dragons?"

Both Stoick and Batwings were now staring at Hiccup in surprise.

"You?" asked Stoick in disbelief.

"Me?" asked Batwings, with equal disbelief.

"Who else?" replied Hiccup, as Sightless walked over to stand beside him. "If anyone can get the monsters under control, I can."

Scratching under Sightless' chin to prove his point, while getting a contented gurgle out of the monster, he added, "And Batwings can easily calm the dragons down. He's a dragon himself! I'm sure he can figure out what's going on and put a stop to it. We're the best men for the job."

"He's a dragon," corrected Stoick. "And as for you, you're not a man yet, Hiccup."

"Not if you don't give me the chance to be!" the boy protested in response, and Sightless growled his agreement.

When Stoick glanced at him, Gobber gave him an encouraging nod. Sighing, the elder Haddock complied and allowed his son to try and take charge of the monster situation.

Batwings smiled to himself. He was sure that Hiccup could manage the monsters while he worked on the dragons. And perhaps he could even find out why his brethren were so behaving so badly as of late.

As for Hiccup, he was elated that his dad was finally giving him the chance to prove himself. He had a new and important job in the village, one much more important than that of an apprentice blacksmith or future Chief. It was his job to stop the monsters from doing the village any more harm, and for the sake of the peace his people had made with them, he would do everything in his power to make sure things stayed that way.

* * *

**Village Plaza, the Next Morning**

"Alright," said Hiccup, walking into the village with much confidence and Batwings by his side. "There are going to be a few changes around here."

While the village was seemingly empty for now, there was still some activity going on. A solitary Nadder briefly ran across their path and vanished, while a Monoblos lumbered past them with some destination in mind.

"You focus on that Nadder," Hiccup instructed the Siren. "I'll take care of the monster."

With a nod, Batwings spread his wings and flew off after the Nadder, swooping over a rooftop and vanishing.

Hiccup ran after the Monoblos, and soon cornered the wyvern as it busied itself with trying to steal food from an indignant Viking. The Monoblos was growing more and more agitated, so Hiccup quickly got in between it and the Viking, raising his hands warningly.

"Easy, easy!" he reprimanded it. He placed his hand gently on the spiraling horn growing from its nose, and the monster quickly settled down.

"Alright," murmured Hiccup, satisfied.

But it was short-lived, as a terrified flock of chickens suddenly appeared from nowhere and startled the Monoblos. With a roar, it charged off in the opposite direction, bowling over several carts and barrels in its path and spilling food everywhere.

Hiccup glanced in the direction the panicked poultry had come from, and found the source of their fear – a pair of bright blue Gronckles were fighting each other over a large barrel full of salted fish. But before Hiccup could intervene, a Viking ran past him with an angry Barroth chasing him.

Too quickly, the situation dove out of control. Everywhere, there were monsters, Vikings, and dragons running every which way, and every time Hiccup turned around, it seemed as if there was someone or something that needed his help!

Finally, Hiccup caught sight of what seemed like a serious situation – a pair of monsters was terrorizing the sheep barn. Several smoking sheep ran down the steps that led away from the brewing fight, having been set alight by a Rathalos' flame breath.

"Sightless!" called Hiccup, and the Gore Magala was immediately at his rider's side. "You stop that fight! I'll put out the sheep."

Allowing an affirmative growl to curl out from his throat, Sightless dashed off toward the fighting monsters, wisps of black fog trailing from his wings. Hiccup ran in the opposite direction, after a sheep that had separated from the fleeing herd, smoke rising up from its wool.

Hiccup chased the sheep around the village almost endlessly, ducking under and dodging past the monsters and Vikings that got in his way. Just when he thought he had caught the sheep, his jump fell short and he thudded to the ground. Turning around at the frightening sight of a low-flying Gypceros, the sheep ran right over the Haddock boy. Grunting in pain, Hiccup picked himself off the ground and resumed the chase.

Meanwhile, about thirty feet above the ground, the rest of the gang perched atop a catapult tower. They normally hung out there at this particular time of the day, the better to get away from the chaos that often happened on Berk. This time, they were short a couple of friends.

"Where did Hiccup and Batwings get to?" asked Snaketail, dangling her legs over the side of the platform.

"Right there," said Tuffnut, pointing to the scrawny figure that raced around the village from one problem to another. Uncertainly, the male Thorston added, "I think he's helping the dragons and monsters break stuff."

"Cool!" smirked Ruffnut, settling down to watch with him.

"He looks like he could use our help," Astrid said concernedly, but at the same time not sure if they should really go down there into the thick of things.

"Yeah, we'll help," Snotlout grunted.

"In a minute," Ruff finished with a sadistic grin.

Suddenly, the immense thrumming of a hundred wings roared overhead, and the shadows of flying monsters began to soar across the ground.

"And… it's three o'clock," muttered Astrid.

She ducked her head so she wouldn't have to watch what happened next.

* * *

**There's Part 1 of Chapter 2! It's obvious that the more destructive monsters are wreaking havoc on the village, but why are the peaceful dragons joining in all of a sudden? Are the monsters a bad influence on them?**

**Find out the mystery next chapter! In the meantime, make sure to leave a review and a bit of feedback.**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 2**_

_**How to Start a Monster Academy Part 2**_

* * *

**Hiccup's House, Twilight**

"Oh, everything hurts," complained Hiccup as he was settling in for a well-deserved night's rest. "Even this," he added, and held up his prosthetic to Sightless.

The Gore Magala snorted and shook his head at the smell of the cold metal, then gently extended an arm to nudge his rider encouragingly. Hiccup just smiled and nudged the monster back.

All of a sudden, there was a voice that came from downstairs. The house consisted of two levels – there was the main floor, and then there was a staircase that led up to Hiccup's room. Stoick generally slept on the couch near the fire pit, where it was warm. Batwings also slept downstairs, up in the rafters where it was comfortable for a dragon like him.

"Hiccup?" called the voice, echoing up the staircase.

He recognized the voice instantly. "Astrid?" he replied, even as the sound of footsteps began to travel up to his level.

"Perfect," the Haddock boy muttered. "I don't look too beat up, do I?"

Sightless raised his head and tilted it, a face with a surprising amount of emotion for a monster without eyes. In this case, he looked amused.

"Great," Hiccup said sarcastically, and physically drooped a bit. "Monster pity."

He turned around and, immediately, saw Astrid walking up the dark stairwell and into the light of the candles he had lit. "Oh hey, Astrid! What a nice surprise!" he greeted her, falsely delightful.

The girl gave him a smile and folded her arms across her chest. "So, how was your day?" she asked.

"Oh, uneventful," Hiccup said dismissively. "Hung around the plaza… you know."

"Yeah, I do know," replied Astrid. "We saw you out there. It's hard to believe you're still standing after all that."

Hiccup dropped all attempts to remain cool and flopped down on his wooden bed with a groan. "I'm going to be seeing smoking sheep in my dreams for the next month," he complained. "And I don't think Batwings had any better luck with" –

A huge voice suddenly cut him off, and Stoick lumbered up the stairs with a weary look on what Hiccup could see of his face (the beard and mustache kind of obscured most of it).

"What's going on out there?" he demanded when he had entered the room. "The plaza looks like a war zone! I just got finished talking to Batwings – poor guy's absolutely exhausted. Those dragons must be worse than I thought."

Hiccup hastily tried to calm his father down. The last thing he wanted was for the monsters and dragons to be caged up and shipped off. He began, "I know this looks bad…"

"_Really _bad," Astrid whispered.

"But," he forged on, "this is only, uh, Phase One of my… master plan."

Now Stoick looked curious and somewhat surprised. "So… you _do_ have a plan."

"Of _course _I do!" exclaimed Hiccup emphatically. "It's very… complex, with lots of drawings and, um, several moving parts… Yeah. It's, uh, pretty wild." He grinned sheepishly, ignoring Astrid's stare. Stoick stared at him as well, for a long time.

"Uh-huh," the elder Haddock finally said. "This had better be real. Mildew has stirred up the whole island, and if you don't get these monsters under control, they'll be calling for their heads."

When Stoick had left, his heavy footsteps growing fainter as they thudded down the steps, Sightless gave the two remaining humans a desperate glance. Or he would have, if he had possessed eyes.

"Don't worry," Hiccup assured him. "Your head isn't going anywhere."

"You do realize," Astrid interjected, "that there are, like, a bazillion monsters out there and only _one_ of you. I really hope you do have a plan."

Suddenly, Hiccup brightened somewhat. He didn't have a plan – but he was starting to!

* * *

**Training Arena**

"That's your plan?" inquired Snaketail skeptically.

"Train monsters?" added Ruff. "Here? Where we used to kill them?"

Hiccup sighed, but kept up his enthusiasm. "Right," he affirmed, "because we don't do that anymore."

In the back of his mind, he cursed himself. He should have known that the others would question him. Heck, even _he _was questioning him! But it was the best plan he had.

Arachne looked hesitant. "I don't know," she said seriously, patting an edgy Venomwing on the jaw. "The monsters do look a little nervous."

Indeed, as Hiccup looked around the arena, he could see that the teens' monster companions were nervously shuffling their feet and glancing around edgily.

"That's because they're really sensitive," Batwings replied. "Us dragons, too. None of them even like to come near this place because of the scent of three hundred years-worth of monster blood pervading the place."

"Thank you for that," muttered Fishlegs with a surprising amount of sarcasm. "Heatray is especially sensitive – he lost a cousin here a few years ago. We try not to talk about it," he added in a whisper.

Astrid, at least, seemed supportive. "I can't believe your dad just gave us the arena!" she told me, impressed.

"Yeah, it would be great if he did," Hiccup responded gingerly. "But he didn't, so that's something else we probably shouldn't talk about."

Now the Hofferson girl's brow furrowed with suspicion as she accused, "So… we're going behind your father's back."

"There you go, talking about it!" replied Hiccup. He nervously edged away from her and took a few paces toward the rest of the group. "Look, everyone, here's the thing. The monsters are out of control, and I have no idea what's gotten into the dragons. We want them all to live in our world without destroying it, but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village… we have to do something about that."

The twins were unusually eager. "Right, we got this," Tuff said confidently. "We help monsters blow things up! We can totally do that."

His sister immediately started planning. "Here's how we're going to do it," she said. "First, we get them really, _really_ angry."

"That'll be easy," scoffed Tuff. "We anger everybody."

"Guys, this is serious!" yelled Snaketail. "Mildew wants all our monsters caged. I don't know about you, but that isn't okay with me."

Hiccup gave her a nod. "Okay, next problem," he went on. "The monsters are eating everything in sight. Now, when a monster grabs something it's not supposed to have" – he took out a loaf of bread from a basket and held it up to Sightless, who immediately snapped it up – "you can get it to drop it by giving him a gentle scratch below the chin."

Sightless growled contentedly when Hiccup demonstrated, and he dropped the bread.

The loaf wasn't on the ground even for a minute when Snotlout picked it up and tossed it to Snotsnarl. He grabbed it in his mouth, and as Hiccup moved to protest, Snotlout grinned superiorly at him.

"Maybe that works for you and Sightless," he said smugly, "but Snotsnarl and me do things a little different. When I want this bad boy to do something, I get right up in his face and – DROP THAT RIGHT NOW! YOU HEAR ME?!"

Several people flinched at the way Snotlout suddenly went from his normal voice to a huge bellow, but Snotsnarl only got annoyed. He spat out the bread and lunged forward, seizing Snotlout in his jaws headfirst and shaking him violently.

"See?" the Jorgenson said, voice muffled. "He dropped it."

"Uh, should we help him?" chuckled Ruff.

"Yeah… in a minute," replied Arachne, grinning up at the Tigrex.

About to speak up again, Hiccup stopped short at the sight of a colorful Terrible Terror fluttering in through the chain-linked net that spread over the arena. Most likely attracted by the smell of the bread, the tiny dragon crawled forward – only to be met with Sightless' menacing maw. The Gore Magala flared his wings and blew a puff of black fog into the Terror's face, and it stumbled away from the virus, hacking and coughing.

Then the situation took a turn for the odd – the Terrible Terror scuttled away, noticed Fishlegs, and jumped onto his chest with a hostile growl. The husky boy shrieked and flailed his arms, trying to get his attacker away from him.

"That was weird," noted Snaketail. "The poor thing breathed in too much of Sightless' virus, and then poof! He's ultra-aggressive."

It clicked all of a sudden.

"That's it!" crowed Batwings. "That's why the dragons are acting up! Sightless is spreading around too much of his black mist."

Idly, Hiccup fed Sightless a plump fish. "Yes, but the question is, how're we going to stop" –

Another contented growl from the Gore Magala made Hiccup look over. There wasn't any mist floating out from under his wings any more.

"Maybe he just needs to be happy and healthy," mused Astrid. "Then he won't have any reason to spread that stuff around."

"After all, we do know that the Gore Magala uses its virus predominantly to weaken its prey," Fishlegs added proudly. He patted the Book of Monsters, which he was in charge of updating with new information about monsters.

Shaking his head, Hiccup pointed at something he had just noticed. There was still a bit of mist particles coming out from Sightless' wings. "That might be part of it," he agreed, "but not all of it. There has to be something we can do to stop it entirely…"

"Uh, could someone do that chin-scratchy thingy?" called Snotlout from within Snotsnarl's jaws. "A-Are you guys still there?" he added tentatively, his voice starting to shake.

Sighing, Snaketail reached up and gently rubbed the Tigrex's jaw. Obediently, he opened his mouth and dropped Snotlout right on top of her, prompting them both to scream.

"Nice landing," the Grundenson girl growled.

"I could have done it myself, you know!" claimed Snotlout, wiping saliva out of his eyes.

That was when the group got another, much bigger, surprise. A huge roar echoed out across the sky, and a large, crimson Monstrous Nightmare plunged down through the gaps in the net. Without leaving them any time to question why it had suddenly appeared, the hungry, angry dragon barreled straight for Sightless. Frightened, the other monsters hastily got out of its way.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" exclaimed Hiccup, spreading his arms in front of Sightless as if to protect him.

Surprisingly, Snotlout also acted, leaping in between the rampaging Nightmare and his cousin and spreading out his arms as well. "Oh no no no!" he shouted. "If you want to eat Hiccup, you've got to go through the Snotlout first!" He took a moment to flex his muscles, showing off to the bewildered Monstrous Nightmare.

"If anything, he's going to want to eat _you_ much faster," muttered Astrid.

"Not that he'd taste any good," Batwings offered.

The Monstrous Nightmare inched his head forward, regarding the Jorgenson curiously. Confidently, Snotlout extended his hand. Suddenly calm, the dragon closed the distance between them to gently nudge him, showing that he was willing to bond with the admittedly brave and powerful boy. The dragon privately admired that in a human.

"Now that was impressive," remarked Snaketail.

"Thank goodness you managed to tame that Nightmare so quickly," Hiccup sighed, thanking his cousin.

"Don't mention it," Snotlout replied casually, patting the Monstrous Nightmare's snout.

Hiccup turned back to Sightless, about to ask if the monster was alright, when he noticed that there was no more mist wafting out from his wings. Sightless regarded Hiccup with a tilted head, the very picture of innocence.

Fishlegs saw it too. "He stopped producing his virus!" he practically squealed. "Maybe he just needs to be happy, healthy, and with someone he can trust!"

"Then, we have a lot of training to do!" Hiccup claimed with a grin, and tossed food items to everyone. "If we work together, we can get the monsters and dragons under control."

* * *

**Village Plaza**

Eager to try out the things we had learned in the arena earlier, the group of teenagers walked confidently into the village – and stopped. For the first time in nearly a week, there were no monsters in sight.

"Hmm," murmured Fishlegs. "No monsters or dragons."

"That was easy," Ruff rasped.

"Lunch?" inquired Batwings.

"That's weird," Hiccup murmured, ignoring the others' chatter. "If the monsters aren't here, then where are they?"

The answer to his rhetorical question came from higher up on the island. The boy's heart sank when he saw the flames leaping from the warehouse where all the food was being stored. The others saw it too.

"Something tells me that way," Astrid said grimly.

They ran to investigate, and stopped in shock at what they saw. It was worse than they had fathomed – monsters and dragons were everywhere, making off with every scrap of food that the Vikings had gathered over the months. Said Vikings were shouting and chasing them away with little success, desperate and angry.

"Twinhorn?" gasped Snaketail, unable to believe her eyes. The Diablos was among the creatures eating from the piles of food. She guiltily glanced over at the sound of her rider's voice, a cabbage leaf sticking out of her mouth.

"Mocktalk?" asked Batwings, just as surprised to see his Qurupeco companion feasting as well. He swung his head to face the Siren, gulping down a mackerel as he did so.

"So sorry!" squawked Mocktalk, inflating his throat sac in order to mimic a human voice, and thus speak to them legibly. He flew off frantically before Batwings could scold him.

Hiccup raced past the multitude of hungry monsters and furious villagers, and flung open the door of the warehouse itself. The mess inside was far worse than outside. All he could see was rubble and empty crates, and not a morsel of food in sight. Stoick was there cleaning up the damage, huffing and puffing furiously.

"They've eaten everything!" he exclaimed. "We have nothing left for the freeze!"

Suddenly, Mildew and Fungus were there. While the sheep bleated idly, the old man stomped right up to Stoick. "I warned you, Stoick," he said menacingly. "But did you listen? No, you put a bunch of teenagers in charge! Look what the monsters have done now! Caging is too good for 'em."

Desperately, Hiccup pushed past Mildew and protested with everything he had. "Dad, I swear to Odin that I can fix this. We just learned that Sightless' virus is making the dragons go wild, and we figured out how to stop –"

But the boy was cut off by his father, who said wearily, "Enough, Hiccup. How can I trust you to control all the beasts when you can't even control your own?"

"Dad, I just told you that…" Hiccup suddenly trailed off when he caught sight of a familiar, cloaked creature feasting on one of the last piles of fish left behind, which was rapidly dwindling.

"Sightless?" he asked in disbelief. The Gore Magala looked up and looked at him, well, sightlessly. He seemed very ashamed of himself.

Stoick picked up several baskets and hurled them at Mulch and Bucket, instructing, "You two, man the boats! We need another catch!"

"It's no use, Stoick," Mulch replied resignedly. "It took us six months to catch all that fish."

"Don't tell me it's too late!" the Chief said fiercely.

Chuckling nervously, Mulch walked off with Bucket. "Don't tell the Chief it's too late," the short Viking said quietly. "You're always so negative."

"I don't know what it is with me," Bucket replied innocently.

As the two of them meandered off, Hiccup tried again with his father. "Dad, please! I can fix this! I know monsters better than anyone!"

But he didn't listen.

"Not now, Hiccup," he said instead. "I have a village to feed. The monsters have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Maybe then the dragons will go back to normal."

Never happy, Mildew stalked over and growled, "You can't just cage these monsters! You need to send them away!"

Behind him, the angry mob of Vikings agreed, shouting their support.

"You're right, Mildew," Stoick replied, both harshly and sadly. "We'll cage 'em tonight, and in the morning, my son will send them off the island." He looked down at Hiccup and finished, genuinely concerned, "I'm sorry, son."

Then, he walked away, leaving a very disturbed group of monster riders behind.

* * *

**Great Hall, Sunset**

The gang all sat at the same table that night for dinner. No one was hungry, and they all sat around, picking at their food. No one wanted to believe that the monsters, with whom they had grown to close, were being banished. Not after they had tried so hard to maintain the peace.

"I can't believe we have to send them away," sulked Snaketail, slamming her fist down on the table.

"It's going to be weird," murmured Astrid. The soup she was swirling around with a spoon took the shape of a Yian Garuga, which only made her more upset. "I've gotten used to Blackhawk's face being the first thing I see every morning."

"Mocktalk was too depressed to even look at me before I came here for dinner," Batwings said sadly.

"Every night, before I go to sleep, Heatray used to lick my feet," sniffled Fishlegs. "Who's going to do that now?!" he suddenly wailed, flopping down on the table.

"I volunteer Tuffnut!" said Ruffnut cheerfully.

"Whatever," Tuff grumbled, too upset to argue. "What time should I be there?"

Snotlout, however, scoffed. "Lighten up, wimps," he scolded. "I trained a dragon today – you guys can just do the same thing!"

"Like you won't miss Snotsnarl," huffed Arachne under her breath.

Offended, the Jorgenson retorted, "I will so miss him! It feels like these long sharp claws are tearing at this thing in my chest." He clenched his fists and grimaced, both with anger and inner pain.

"That's what it feels like when your heart is breaking," Astrid said sadly. On the word 'breaking', coincidentally, her voice broke.

"What?!" Snotlout protested. "I don't have a heart! I'm not a _girl_."

"Come on, guys," sighed Snaketail, pushing herself away from the table and standing up. The others followed her, and dejectedly began to walk toward the exit.

"This is the worst day of my life!" cried Fishlegs, trying hard to blink back tears.

"I hope the dragons don't go next," muttered Batwings.

Hiccup silently watched them go, and Sightless slunk almost invisibly up to his side as if he were made of darkness. "We can't let this happen," he told him. "You're the best friend I've ever had."

Sightless growled lowly, a sound of both sadness and affection.

Footsteps suddenly echoed in the mostly-silent hall, easily carrying to Hiccup's ears over the crackle of the flames in the central fire pit. It was a for-once-cheerful Mildew, carrying a bowl of soup in his spidery hands, with his staff tucked under his arm.

"Oh, Sightless," he lamented with false regret. "I'm going to miss you so much. You know what your mistake was, Hiccup?" he suddenly added, turning to the boy. "Thinking monsters could be trained! A monster's gonna do what a monster's gonna do. It's their nature – and nature always wins."

Ignoring Sightless' hostile snarl, the old man walked away to enjoy his meal, whistling a tune through his teeth.

Just then, the wind outside became so ferocious that it opened the huge wooden doors of the Great Hall. The wind blasted through the gap and blew out the fire in the fire pit, and the hall was suddenly pitch black. Sightless' growl became one of concern, and he let out a soft scream to a Nadder that perched overhead. The Nadder, who had probably come inside to escape the cold, chirped back and then blasted the fire pit with a burst of blindingly bright flames, allowing the room to become illuminated again.

A look of dawning comprehension crossed Hiccup's face. "I can't believe I'm saying this," he said to himself, "but Mildew is absolutely right! Let's go, Sightless. We have to get the others."

* * *

**Training Arena**

The only light in the sky came from the half moon and stars as the riders and their monsters landed in front of the entrance to the arena. They planned on first caging their own monsters, and then herding all the rest to be contained overnight. Once morning arrived, Stoick or Gobber would probably see to their expulsion from Berk.

The group dismounted and looked their monsters in the eye, all saying silent goodbyes. The monsters all seemed to figure out what was happening, and they became sad as well – wings and tails drooping, mournful moans and warbles coming from deep in their throats. Even Snotsnarl, generally a very disobedient monster, was upset to see his rider go.

"I'm going to miss you, Blackhawk," Astrid croaked, swallowing heavily. She hugged the Yian Garuga briefly, and then pointed to the arena's entrance with the torch she was carrying. "Now go."

Hopelessly, Blackhawk walked into the arena, dragging her talons without any enthusiasm. The other monsters followed her, looking as if they were being weighed down.

_No, there aren't any real restrains,_ Astrid thought. _The only weights are those hanging from their hearts._

The arena door began to close when Snaketail pulled the lever down. The shadows cast by the closing gate fell upon the monsters, shrouding them in darkness. The only points of light came from their eyes, and even they were dim. The sad light in their eyes reflected their spirit.

"Don't close it!" cried the voice, sounding from overhead and cutting through the sadness. There was a great rush of wind, extinguishing the torch, and Sightless melted out of the darkness from nowhere. Hiccup dismounted and ran over to the lever, pushing it up again. Just like that, the gate rose again, and the monsters rushed out.

Astrid rushed up to him excitedly. "Did you change Stoick's mind?" she asked eagerly, then thought about it for a second. "Or… are we going behind his back again?" she added slowly.

The hesitant look on Hiccup's face didn't reassure her. "Ah… one of those," he replied. Changing the subject, he began to explain. "Look, everyone. The monsters are going to do what they're going to do. It's their nature. And now that the dragons are calm, and we know how to stop Sightless from spreading his virus, we can find a way to use their nature."

Everywhere around him, faces were brightening and smiles were spreading. For the first time that night, there was renewed hope in all of the riders.

* * *

**Sea Around Berk**

Early that morning, a black shape shot through the skies overhead, startling the just-waking Vikings. They thought that the monsters would be sent off the island today. Curious, the Vikings walked out of their houses and through the village, following the black blur. They wanted to see what was going on.

Over the ocean, a group of monsters were circling ominously in the sky, while a nervous Mulch and Bucket observed them from their fishing boat. Hiccup and Sightless joined the small mob, and began to circle as well. The dark, menacing shape of the Gore Magala cowed the pair of Vikings into silence.

"Snotlout, Batwings," called Hiccup, "scare us up some dinner!"

The arrogant Jorgenson wasn't riding Snotsnarl, but the Monstrous Nightmare that he had tamed yesterday. Tigrexes weren't very skilled in the water, since they didn't eat a lot of fish, but Snotlout was lucky enough to have an alternative option.

"Right!" he affirmed confidently. "Let's go, Hookfang!"

"You too, Mocktalk!" ordered Batwings. "We're going to have fish for breakfast today!"

The ruby-colored dragon folded his wings and dove straight down, seemingly directly at the boat. It was followed by the colorful Qurupeco, who was, indeed, very adept in the water as well.

"DRAGON ATTACK!" screeched Bucket, and he and Mulch dove for cover.

Hookfang and Mocktalk hit the water on opposite sides of the boat, and immediately began circling it in ever-tightening laps. The closer they got, the more nervous Mulch and Bucket became – and just as Bucket was about to scream again, the creatures flew out of the water simultaneously, their work finished. The Vikings looked at the fishing nets that hung from the boat, and were surprised to find them full of flopping, tasty fish.

"Hey!" called Mulch. "Thanks, you two!"

Snotlout's whoop rang out across the sky. "That's right! _That_ just happened!"

"Mocktalk, Mocktalk, oi oi oi!" warbled the Qurupeco.

"Stop stealing my line already!" Snotlout yelled across to Batwings and his mount. They both chuckled and flew off with the rest of the gang, as the cheers of the watching Vikings from the cliff reached their ears.

The group split up on their monsters, soaring off to get more work done. Batwings, Snaketail, and the twins flew off toward the barn, where a few Vikings were struggling to get the sheep and yaks back into their pens. Meanwhile, Hiccup, Fishlegs, Arachne, and Astrid all flew off toward Mildew's cabbage farm, where the old man was already milling around.

"Morning, Mildew!" came Arachne's shout.

Mildew took one look at the sky and dove out of the way with a scream as Venomwing soared low over the ground. She sprayed venom down on the soil, killing off the numerous weeds. Astrid and Blackhawk followed the younger girl closely – the Yian Garuga used her super-sharp beak to cleave trenches in the dirt. Then Hiccup flew by on Sightless, scattering seeds across the entire field.

"It isn't three o'clock yet," chuckled Hiccup, "but it's time for some fertilizer!"

A small group of monsters flew over the farm, led by Fishlegs and Heatray. They had convinced them to do their morning business over the cabbage field, and they were all ready to relieve themselves.

Mildew stood amongst the hail of dung, watching in disbelief. "Wha…?" was all he could say.

"Smile, Mildew!" chirped Arachne. "We just saved you three months of work!"

The last task of the day was rounding up some rogue wild boars that were infesting the woods. That was left to the twins, who snickered sadistically as they flew over the sounder of boars on Queen and King. The Lunastra and Teostra let off bursts of fire and explosive powder, managing to herd the boars into the slaughterhouse. The Vikings managing the place closed the doors on the last of the boars and locked it, then waved in thanks.

"Destruction for a purpose," grinned Tuff.

"Yeah, who knew?" agreed Ruff.

With every task in the village finished in just less than an hour, Hiccup led his friends over into the plaza, where they were surrounded by enthusiastic Vikings, all in awe of how easily the riders had taken care of the village.

"How did you know that was going to work?" Astrid inquired of Hiccup, more eagerly than usual.

"Because they're monsters!" he replied with a grin, patting Sightless on the head. "And they're gonna do what monsters do. We just have to work with them and not against them."

But there was one person who wasn't happy with that idea.

"There they are, Stoick," rasped Mildew, hobbling up to the group with the Chief in tow. "Those monsters don't look like they're in cages to me."

* * *

**Training Arena**

If Hiccup and his friends were going to get punished, he could have done without the publicity. Every Viking on Berk was there to see Stoick and Gobber hand out their punishments to the teenagers. Out of all of them, only Batwings didn't look concerned. Hiccup decided to trust in the Siren's uncanny intuition, and began to believe that whatever punishment was coming, it wouldn't be so harsh.

However, the look on his dad's face certainly didn't look forgiving.

"Oh no," worried Fishlegs, looking increasingly panicky. "What's Stoick going to do to us?"

Ruffnut moaned, "I'm too pretty for jail!"

Tuff scoffed in reply, "Where'd you hear that?"

"Relax," muttered Batwings. "It isn't going to be that bad."

"I told you we were going to get in trouble," hissed Astrid, punching Hiccup's arm. "Ugh, you never listen to me!"

Stoick began to speak in a clear voice. "You all disobeyed my orders, and now there will be consequences –"

"Dad," interrupted Hiccup, firmly. "If anyone's going to get in trouble, it should be me."

"No," Stoick replied, shaking his head slowly. "You all had a hand in this. That's why –"

But he was interrupted again. "Yer gettin' a monster trainin' academy!" blurted Gobber, a jolly grin stretching across his face from ear to ear.

All around the arena, there were gasps. Not even Batwings had expected this.

"Gobber!" scolded Stoick. "I wanted to tell them that!"

"Yer right," admitted Gobber apologetically. "I'm sorry. Go ahead."

"Well you told most of it!" argued Stoick, still mad.

"Don't worry," replied Gobber. "You can still tell 'em the part about how _proud_ yeh are of 'em!"

"_Gobber_!" the Chief practically roared.

By now, the gang was all grinning so hard that their faces hurt. Astrid couldn't help but let a small giggle escape, and pretty soon, the tension in the air was released as everyone began to laugh.

Stoick turned to Hiccup when his chuckles had subsided, and sighed. "Hiccup…" he began, then paused awkwardly. "Well… what he said. You've all made me very proud. That's why I'm allowing you full use of this arena. The very first Berk Monster Academy is for you all."

There were a multitude of roars and screeches that pealed through the applause that the Viking audience showered them with. The group all ran to greet their monsters as the beasts all charged through the gate to smother them with affection. Even Snotsnarl cuddled his rider, who for once didn't protest.

"Now all you have to do is train them," Stoick said to his son, patting Sightless on the arm. Both his son and the Gore Magala smiled.

"Not a problem, Dad," replied Hiccup. "After all, I've got them."

He gestured to his friends and their monsters, and together, they almost glowed with happiness.

"Berk Monster Academy, huh?" remarked Astrid, putting her arm around Hiccup's shoulders. "I like the sound of that."

But amidst the cheer that surrounded the Berk Monster Academy, there was one pocket of grouchiness, with a tiny bit of menace at its very center. "I'll get those monsters yet," growled Mildew, stalking off with Fungus at his side.

* * *

_Monsters can't change who they are. But who would want them to?_

_Monsters are powerful, amazing creatures. And no matter how long it takes me, I'm going to learn everything there is to know about them._

_Wouldn't you?_

* * *

**Phew, that was a lot of writing! Prepare for my chapters to be at least as long as this!**

**Next time on "Monsters of Berk", the journey of our favorite monster riders will begin in earnest. Look forward to the next chapter, readers, and please give me reviews and feedback!**

**Up next: Legend of the Moonlit Tryst**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Legend of the Moonlit Tryst Part 1**_

* * *

_Every legend has a bit of truth buried at its very core. But sometimes, the legend can become so wild that even a friend may not believe you._

_So when my mentor, Gobber, claimed to have met a mythical monster long ago, I believed him. And even when I started to doubt him, I made sure to remember that he was someone to indeed be believed._

* * *

**Village Plaza, Nighttime**

"FIRE!"

Hiccup awoke that night to the sound of chaos, and ran out the door to find just that waiting for him. There was a bright, flickering, orange light burning near the plaza. Knowing just what was causing the light, the Haddock boy ran inside to get Sightless.

As quickly as they were able, they soared down on silent wings down to the village. While they circled the village, Hiccup could see that all of Berk was there, helping to put out the immense fire. Monsters and dragons were flying all over, dropping buckets of water onto the blaze. He could see his friends flying on their monsters, at the heart of the action.

But when Hiccup took a closer look at the fire, he gasped. It wasn't just a regular fire – it was a house, and it was completely ablaze. But not only that, it was Gobber's house that had been set alight!

_Either Gobber left his undies by the oven again,_ Hiccup thought grimly, _or it was a monster._ _And the only monster with a powerful enough flame to set an entire house on fire is the Rathalos, King of the Skies!_

Stoick was there near the house, shouting orders. As the monsters, dragons, and Vikings all worked together to slowly extinguish the flames, Hiccup and Sightless finally touched down near him. Immediately, the boy jumped off and ran to his father's side.

"Dad, where's Gobber?" he asked frantically.

"I'm right here!" replied the familiar voice, calling out from the smithy nearby. Gobber hobbled out on his peg leg, carting a wheelbarrow full of weapons. "That beast'll pay fer this!"

Seriously, Stoick asked, "Gobber, what happened?"

"What's it look like?" his friend shot back. "A monster set me home on fire!"

The crowd gasped and began to mutter amongst themselves, while the gang of monster riders exchanged surprised glances.

Gobber raised his hook into the air and, angrily, began shouting at the star-speckled sky. "Yeh've pushed me too far this time, yeh ugly sack o' silver!"

Hiccup glanced at Stoick as the elder Haddock let out a loud, weary sigh. "Dad," he asked, "what's he talking about? Our monsters don't do that anymore."

"He doesn't mean one of ours," Stoick replied, patting his back. "Gobber, for the last time, there is no such thing as a –"

"Silver Rathalos?!" demanded Gobber, irately.

Now the Vikings in the crowd were rolling their eyes and muttering to themselves again.

"Whoa whoa whoa," said Tuffnut. "A what Rathalos?"

"The Silver Rathalos," answered Gobber. "A gigantic, shining beast that wears a coat of pure silver scales like a giant flyin' Snoggletog ornament."

"Doesn't sound too scary," Ruffnut said with a smirk.

"Yeah, what's so frightening about a giant Snoggletog ornament?" inquired Arachne innocently.

Fishlegs was hopping up and down with excitement. "Ooh, I've read about it in the Book of Monsters!" he exclaimed. "The book says that this legendary monster flies alone his entire life, and will stop at nothing to find the perfect minerals to build his coat of silver. And then he uses his coat to impress a female Rathian and start a family! It's AWESOME!" he finished with a squeal.

"Sort of the Snotlout of monsters, huh?" replied Snotlout musingly, admiring his muscles and waggling his eyebrows at Astrid. The Hofferson girl shoved him to the ground and stood closer to Hiccup.

Stoick laughed. "Come on," he chuckled. "It's a myth! It doesn't even exist!"

Gobber whirled on his lifelong friend and argued, "I'm tellin' ya, he's real. I've been runnin' from him me whole life. He's the one that started that fire!"

At that moment, Spitelout ran up urgently, holding up a disgusting-smelling, burnt pair of underpants on a stick. Hiccup was willing to bet, however, that the burnt smell was a sweeter aroma than their usual stench.

"Stoick!" called Spitelout, panting. "I found Gobber's undies hanging by his oven. They must have started the fire."

The crowd burst into laughter, and Gobber turned beet red.

"Still think it was a monster, or just your undies?" hooted a Viking from the audience, to the amusement of everyone else.

"I don't think, I _know_!" shouted Gobber, snatching his undies back. "Somehow he found me again. This monster is pure evil."

Sighing again, Stoick gently patted him on the shoulder. "Gobber, it's late, and we're too tired for your stories. Now get some rest."

"You rest," Gobber growled, tugging his wheelbarrow of weapons down to the docks. "I'm puttin' an end to this. Let's go, Phil," he added to his sheep, who dutifully followed him.

Hiccup sadly watched Gobber go as the crowd began to disperse. He hadn't seen Gobber this upset in a long time, and he didn't like it when the ordinarily-jolly Viking was so down in the dumps. He wanted to make sure that his mentor was feeling alright.

"I can't let him go all by myself," I muttered to my friends. Several of them nodded sympathetically.

He turned toward the group and said determinedly, "Alright, gang. Grab your shields and weapons."

Everyone cheered, and ran back to their houses to get packed for the trip.

Except Snotlout.

"There's no way I'm getting on a boat to go after a fake monster," he said stubbornly, folding his arms. "And that's final."

* * *

**Sea Around Graveyard Island, After Midnight**

Snotlout grunted, trying to shove his oar through the choppy waves. It was harder than it looked, and he had several splinters jabbing his hands every time he moved.

"You were saying, Snotlout?" sneered Batwings. He had hooked his wing claws into his oar and was using both his arms and wings to pull it back and forth.

Meanwhile, Gobber kept pushing us to row faster, but it was taxing work. Everyone was exhausted after a half hour of rowing, and they still hadn't made it to the deserted island near Berk called Graveyard Island, where Gobber said we had the best chance of finding the Silver Rathalos. Hiccup was having the most trouble, but even Astrid was starting to struggle.

"How fun is this, right?" Hiccup asked cheerfully, trying to keep everyone's spirits up. "We've got the team back together, another adventure… this is pretty cool, huh?"

The only reply he got was from Snotlout, who replied in a winded voice, "Yep. There's nothing cooler than rowing until your hands bleed…"

"Why couldn't we have just saddled up our monsters and _flown_ there?" complained Arachne, blowing on her stinging hands.

Snaketail opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the sound of Gobber sniffling. "I just want yeh kids to know," he spoke up tearfully, "that it touches me heart that yeh volunteered to help me slay the Silver Rathalos. True Vikings, yeh are…"

"Are we there yet?" grunted Ruffnut.

"Oh, you'll know we're there when you go blind from the reflected moonlight," Fishlegs said nervously, tapping his feet frantically on the deck. "Legend says the Silver Rathalos' wings are so luminous, they can burn your eyes right out of your sockets!"

Gobber silenced him. "Not so, Fishlegs," he claimed. "The Silver Rathalos' wings aren't shiny at all. That's why he's terrifyin'!"

"So," Snaketail wondered, "if we don't see anything, we're dead?"

There was instant silence, broken only by the steady rushing of the waves around us.

"I don't see anything," whispered Tuffnut.

Suddenly, Phil bleated loudly, causing the group to jump out of their seats and yelp.

"Aha, good one, Phil!" laughed Gobber. His expression suddenly turned thoughtful, and he asked, "Now, did I ever tell ya how I met the dreaded Silver Rathalos…?"

* * *

**Ice-Sheathed Sea, Many, Many Years Ago**

"_I was a young lad," Gobber recited, "about yer age, on summer vacation with me family. When, all of a sudden, I heard the call o' nature."_

The teenaged Gobber rowed the boat lazily along, admiring the glaciers that packed the ocean. But suddenly, he felt that unmistakable feeling, and his eyes widened uncomfortably.

"Dad, pull the boat over!" he squeaked, and jumped onto the nearest ice floe with his Great Sword in hand.

"Didn't I tell ya to go before we left?" his father yelled after him.

It wasn't long before the young boy found a nice, private spot behind a particularly large glacier to do his business. He finished, picked up his Great Sword, and began to walk back to where his parents had left the boat. But when he turned around, he stopped, and his eyes bugged.

"_I saw an army of Vikings, frozen deep within the glacier! Clutched in the hand o' one of 'em was a small treasure chest. I. Had. To have it."_

Gobber stared at the immense, icy wall with the frozen army inside of it. It was probably the coolest thing he had ever seen (pardon the pun). In the hand of the nearest and fiercest-looking of the Vikings, there was a fist-sized, golden treasure chest. Gobber's eyes widened, and he immediately knew that the treasure was his to claim.

Smirking confidently, he pulled back his Great Sword and yelled a battle cry. He swung hard at the glacier, and successfully smashed a deep hole into the ice. The edge of the treasure chest poked through the hole, and Gobber pulled it out with only a small amount of effort.

"_I reached in, and pulled out the chest. It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw! But the frozen Viking was still alive, and started punchin' me in the face!"_

Gobber suddenly screamed in shock as the Viking's hand suddenly moved, clenching into a fist and slugging him in the face. On the third blow, he not only acquired a black eye, but he also felt something come loose in his mouth.

"Ow, me tooth!" he exclaimed, gingerly rubbing the bloody socket with his finger.

Just then, a mumbling noise came from the glacier. It was the frozen Viking, his face still trapped in a vicious snarl, pointing with a hairy finger at the sky behind Gobber. Confused, the teenager tilted his head to try and listen better.

The Viking pointed again, and mumbled louder and more urgently. A shadow quickly flew across the ground, and Gobber looked up in fright. What he saw froze him in his tracks (again, pardon the pun).

"_An' there it was. I never even saw it comin'. The Silver Rathalos!"_

Giving an immense roar of fury that rattled the glacier, the Silver Rathalos dove down from the sky, silver scales flashing blindingly in the sunlight and his talons thrown out in front of it. He reached for Gobber, and he ducked out of the way.

The monster snapped his claws shut just short of his hands, and Gobber felt the poisonous tip lightly graze his helmet. He looked up to see the Silver Rathalos fly right past him, unable to stop, and he crashed into the glacier with a startled squawk. The glacier began to crack and fracture with great, echoing, shattering noises, and Gobber started to run for his life.

"_The monster crashed into the glacier, causin' an avalanche of frozen Vikings!"_

At that moment, the glacier shattered behind the fleeing Gobber. Massive pieces of ice began to tumble after him, most of them with Vikings frozen inside them. He ran up the icy slopes, slipping and stumbling in a panic. The ice chunks began falling into the sea, causing rough waves that rocked the ice floes.

As if things weren't bad enough, the Silver Rathalos was back, and he swooped down towards Gobber, trying to snatch the treasure for himself. He never saw him coming, and tripped in utter shock when his claws snapped shut just above his head. He hit the ice with a pained grunt, and the treasure slipped out of his hands.

"The treasure!" the young Viking wailed, and scrambled after it. The little box bounced to the edge of the ice floe and fell into the water with a *plop*, but Gobber was close behind. He plunged his hand into the frigid water, reaching desperately for the sinking chest.

"_I reached into the water, only ta find the frozen Viking punchin' me in the face again!"_

Once he felt the smooth metal of the golden chest, Gobber relaxed – and then screamed shrilly when something grabbed him from the depths! A chunk of ice floated to the surface, and he found himself staring at the Viking that had been holding the treasure beforehand. He already had a hold of Gobber's arm, and began punching him in the face with his own fist!

Suddenly, the Silver Rathalos plunged down onto the ice floe, catapulting Gobber up into the air just as he wrenched the treasure chest free of the frozen Viking's grasp. Gobber held the golden box up into the air and shouted triumphantly.

But then, with a roar, the Silver Rathalos flew past and shot out his talons, snagging the treasure chest tightly and attempting to fly off with it. Gobber didn't let go, not even as the monster started to carry him off.

"_The Silver Rathalos wanted that treasure, but I wanted it more!_"

Coming up fast was another glacier, the biggest Gobber had seen yet, and it rapidly became clear that the Silver Rathalos was aiming to smash him into the ice. But, Gobber noticed, there was a huge hole in the side of the glacier, and he realized that it was his only chance of escape. Just as the monster put on a final burst of speed and flew toward the glacier, Gobber ripped the treasure free of his claws and dove through the hole.

He found himself traveling on a winding ice slide that traveled through the blue-green depths of the glacier. There was a sudden impact from outside that shook the iceberg, and it began to collapse. The avalanche bore down on him rapidly, and Gobber clutched the treasure more tightly in his hands, unwilling to let go.

The teenager managed to stay just ahead of the roaring wall of tumbling ice and snow. As he slid down across the slide, he began to notice strange things frozen inside the walls – a few fish, a dragon-like beast with no wings and tiny arms, and even a huge object that looked a lot like a giant plate with a bubble on top. But even as Gobber wondered what these things were, the ice slide suddenly curved upwards, and he shot out of the glacier and high into the air.

Behind him, the iceberg crumbled into the water, right on top of the dazed Silver Rathalos. Ice and wyvern hit the frostbitten waters with an immense splash, and sunk into the depths.

Gobber abruptly began to fall, and luckily, he landed right in his parent's boat. He looked around in bewilderment, almost unwilling to believe that his adventure was over just like that.

"What took ya so long?" his father asked grumpily, and he just shrugged his shoulders with a nervous chuckle.

* * *

**Sea Around Graveyard Island**

Gobber's story had rendered everyone speechless.

"Are you expecting us to believe that a frozen Viking punched you in the face?" chuckled Snotlout.

"Yeah!" he replied. "Twice!"

"Hey, it could happen," Hiccup replied, defending the blacksmith. To him, the story sounded at least partially plausible – and anyway, if he didn't believe his old mentor, then who would? Gobber had been there for him almost his whole life, and he felt like he needed to be there for Gobber.

"What do ya mean, it 'could'?" Gobber asked incredulously. "It _did_! But luckily, I outsmarted the flashy beast."

"Yeah, I hate being a stickler for detail," Fishlegs replied almost patronizingly, "but calling a Silver Rathalos 'flashy' would be an understatement. Legend says that –"

"Fishlegs," Gobber sighed, "I know what I didn't see! But I could feel it. I have this sense fer danger. I can smell it, I can taste the oncoming doom –"

There was an immense impact that rocked the boat, throwing everyone out of their seats with startled yells and screams. Splinters of wood flew through the air as the boat ran aground on a tall, pointed rock spire. The hull had been fatally breached.

"I'm tasting rocks," Astrid remarked, slowly calming down.

The group looked around frantically, and only then noticed the strange landscape before them – a desolate land filled with monster bones, oddly twisted rocks, and the old, moss-covered ruins of an ancient village.

They had arrived at Graveyard Island.

"Ah, we're here," Gobber murmured with a satisfied grin.

They wasted no time in retrieving their weapons, supplies, and Phil, and then waded the short distance to the shores of Graveyard Island. Batwings and Snaketail actually fell in the water when they stepped into a spot where the water was unusually deep. But, exhaustedly, the gang eventually managed to settle down amongst the ruins, sitting on the remnants of old stone towers and houses.

And as they did so, their boat sunk into the sea.

"Now we're stuck on this deserted island and no one even knows we're here!" Ruffnut complained.

"Except the Silver Rathalos," stated Fishlegs. "Legend says he inhabits old ruins like these because –"

"You know what legend also says?" snapped Snotlout. "Stop talking!"

"You, legend?" snickered Snaketail. "Please, I'm sure there are better tales out there to tell."

Hiccup turned toward Batwings, who had his wings wrapped around his soaking-wet body, shivering. "You think you can fly us all home?" the boy inquired.

The Siren shook his head. "T-Too cold," he muttered. "And even so, I feel too nervous to even get off the ground. Something about this island gives me the creeps…"

"No need ta panic, kids!" called Gobber, cheerfully, limping over to us and sitting down as well. "I've been shipwrecked many times!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Oh, well, that's comforting," he replied sarcastically.

The group, with nothing better to do, began to sharpen their weapons, thinking all the while. They were stuck on Graveyard Island with no transportation (unless Batwings suddenly got over his nervousness) and only a few days' worth of food and water.

"Oh, why couldn't we have brought the monsters with us?" whined Arachne.

Gobber paid her no heed, and hummed to himself merrily. "Yeh never forget yer first shipwreck…" he sighed wistfully.

Hiccup got the feeling that he and his friends were in for another of his tall tales.

* * *

**Small Speck of Land, Many Years Ago**

"_I was stranded on an island with only me broom!" Gobber reminisced. "It was a very small island, so it was no wonder the Silver Rathalos found me again. He never forgave me fer takin' that treasure."_

Stranded on an island barely big enough for him to stand up on, Gobber took a look at his broom and groaned to himself. Why couldn't he ever be caught in situations like this with a weapon or something else useful? Looking out across the endless ocean, he couldn't find any escape, so he began to sit down.

And just when he ducked, there was a huge roar, and he looked up to see the shining silver beast fly out from the clouds above. A single fireball blasted out of his jaws and hit the single palm tree rising up from the tiny island, burning it down to ashes. Gobber's eyes widened as he saw the blaze eat up the tree until there was nothing left.

The Silver Rathalos soared off for another go, disappearing into the thick clouds. But as he did so, he cut through the mist in the distance. Through the small gap that the wyvern had left behind, Gobber could see that there was another, much larger island nearby.

"_There was another island, my only escape! But then, I was surrounded by bloodthirsty hammerhead sharks! I only had one chance, so I ran across the shark-infested waters."_

Just as Gobber was about to jump into the water, hundreds of fins rose up from the depths. He paused, seeing his only escape route effectively blocked by a wall of snapping jaws and glinting teeth. He looked up at the sky fearfully, and indeed, the Silver Rathalos could be seen faintly through the obscuring clouds, coming around for another go.

Without any other choice, Gobber did what any brave Viking warrior would do in such a hopeless situation – he leapt across the water, using the sharks as stepping stones. Other sharks launched themselves out of the water at him, their terrible jaws wide open, but Gobber simply beat them aside without even stopping. The Viking just kept going, swatting aside the monstrous fish that got in his path as he hopped from shark to shark. He was slowly but surely making his way toward the larger island.

A shark suddenly jumped out of the water and snapped its jaws shut, inches short of Gobber's head. He grinned and sang, "Someone forgot ta brush!" as he used his broom to quickly scrub clean the shark's fangs.

It fell back into the water, and Gobber desperately ran the last few meters toward the island. The Silver Rathalos was right behind him, diving down at a steep angle with his terrible claws extended.

"_I didn't think I was gonna make it. But then, from the depths of the ocean, leapt forth… a giant hammerhead whale!"_

There was a mighty splash, and a low, mournful bellow that roared out across the sea. Gobber jumped off of the last shark and dove for the sandy beaches just in front of him. He whirled around in time to see the Silver Rathalos' talons centimeters away from his face, and a gigantic sea creature surging up from the deep to crunch down on the silvery snack.

But the Silver Rathalos gave up on Gobber at the last minute, flying away just as the whale's jaws slammed shut with an echoing *crack*. He vanished into the clouds and was seen no more.

* * *

**Graveyard Island**

When Gobber had finished the story of how he had met the Silver Rathalos and hammerhead whale, there were more than a few skeptical faces staring at him speechlessly. Tuffnut and Snotlout were still unconvinced, and Snaketail and Astrid were clearly beginning to doubt the blacksmith as well.

Even Hiccup's trust in Gobber was starting to fade a little. How tall could a tale get?

Knowing Gobber, probably a lot taller – as he was soon to find out.

"A hammerhead… whale," repeated Snaketail, raising an eyebrow.

"You never know," Batwings replied. "The ocean is a dark, deep, and mysterious place. I should know, since my kind likes taking morning swims through the sea. I'm sure hammerhead whales exist somewhere down there."

Hiccup nodded. "See, Batwings believes it," he told Snaketail, who just shook her head in exasperation.

Fishlegs and Arachne, on the other hand, were pretty enthusiastic with Gobber's tale. "Whoa!" exclaimed the Philston girl. "Did the whale eat the Silver Rathalos?"

Gobber chuckled and answered her, "Almost, but the monster got away…"

* * *

**Tryst (noun) – an appointment to meet at a certain time and place, especially one made somewhat secretly by lovers.**

**Interesting definition, no? Considering that there's a quest in Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate called "Moonlit Tryst", it's even more fascinating. But just what tryst is there?**

**Also, I loosely based the scene where Gobber was sliding down the ice slide on the ice cave scene in the first Ice Age movie. Just throwing that out there.**

**Review and see you soon, readers!**

**P.S. Be sure to check out StoryGirl1997's fanfic "How to Become a Trainer". It's a HTTYD/Pokemon crossover like no other!**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Legend of the Moonlit Tryst Part 2**_

* * *

**Jungle, Not so Many Years Ago**

"_Years later," Gobber continued his story, "he hunted me down again and chased me into the jungle. All I had was me trusty eggbeater. I carved through that thick brush as fast as a jungle cat. Still, the Silver Rathalos was right behind me."_

The sound of huge, crashing footfalls sounded behind Gobber as he raced through the thick vines, cutting them up with his eggbeater. It was the sound of ferns and other plants being crushed under the Silver Rathalos' talons as he chased after him, surprisingly swiftly for a monster built for the sky.

Running clear of the last of the vines, Gobber looked back briefly to see the glowing green eyes of the silvery wyvern right behind him. The shade provided by the trees and vines overhead wrapped the creature in darkness, only adding to how terrifying he already was! Swallowing thickly, Gobber doubled his pace, and burst through the foliage to find himself on a natural dirt path that wound through the jungle.

"Ooh, azaleas!" the Viking exclaimed with delight, seeing a patch of the purple flowers growing just in front of him. He bent down to sniff one, but the sound of trees toppling to the ground just behind him prompted him to run.

Just in time, Gobber ran out of the way as the Silver Rathalos leapt out of the undergrowth and landed on top of the azalea patch, crushing the flowers to dust. With a snarl, he turned down the path and chased after him once more, gaining with every step.

"_I ran up the side of a volcano, an' courageously leapt across the fiery crater! Then, deep within the burning volcano, burst forth a giant hammerhead yak!"_

A great, smoking mountain loomed in Gobber's path even as the trees began to thin. Expertly, he scrambled up the steep slopes of the volcano, even as the Silver Rathalos behind him spread his wings and took flight just behind him.

He climbed to the top of the volcano and was immediately faced with a bubbling pit of glowing, steaming hot lava. He stopped for a quick breather – and then saw the Silver Rathalos fly up over the cliff he stood upon, his silvery wings spread wide. Bathed in the glow of the orange-red lava, he looked frighteningly majestic.

Gobber yelped at the sight of the great beast and, knowing that it would dive down at him at any second, he steeled his courage and jumped across the crater with all his might. The Silver Rathalos followed, emitting a shrill screech as he flew down from out of the smoke and ash above.

But then, the lava exploded, and a massive yak jumped out of the boiling molten rock, reaching for the Silver Rathalos' tail with its hoof. However, its aim was poor, and it ended up grabbing Gobber instead of the wyvern. The monster screeched again and flew away from the volcano, knowing that revenge would be impossible yet again.

The yak's eyes widened as it saw the Viking trapped in its hoof, just as they began to fall back into the lava. It hurled the Viking the rest of the way across the crater, and he hit the ground on the far side – then bounced all the way down the volcano, yelling in pain each time he did so.

* * *

**Graveyard Island**

This time, Gobber's wild story had convinced both Ruffnut and Batwings that he was just making things up. Hiccup wanted to believe the burly blacksmith, but even his faith in his mentor was dwindling more and more.

However, Fishlegs and Arachne were at the edge of their seats, with excited expressions on their faces. They, at least, had eaten it all up.

"Ooooookay, wait a minute," Tuff started, interrupting Gobber's story. "You're saying that a giant hammerhead yak leapt out of the volcano and _ate_ the Rathalos?"

"I know for _certain_ that such a beast doesn't exist," added Batwings with finality.

Ruffnut just smirked and wiped her nose, silently agreeing with the two of them.

"Ha, yeh'd think so, wouldn't yeh?" Gobber told them proudly. "But the Silver Rathalos got away again. I knew that shiny scoundrel would keep comin' after me…"

* * *

**Snowy Mountains, a Few Years Ago**

"_So," he continued, "I set up a gauntlet of traps and waited fer the beast."_

With a grunt, Gobber finished setting up the last of his bear traps. He stood back to admire his work, then frowned and shifted the active trap a few feet to the left. Satisfied, he gazed around at the small grove of trees, near which he had placed two more bear traps and a huge, spiky iron ball that dangled from the top of the tree by a rope.

Sitting down on a nearby tree stump, Gobber took out his guitar and began to glare off into the dark forest, strumming notes on the musical instrument. If there was one thing he prided himself on, besides his blacksmithing skills and monster-slaying skills, it was his artistic inclination for musical instruments.

"_An' when he was ready, he charged! Then I ran like the wind, but the traps failed!"_

The stillness and calm of the frosty forest was shattered by the screech of the Silver Rathalos, who lunged out of the darkness with his jaws wide open. His powerful legs carried him straight toward Gobber with awesome speed.

However, the Viking just laughed mockingly, hopped off of his stump, and dashed through the grove where he had set all his traps. In an almost mindless rage, the Silver Rathalos ran right after him, stepping in all of the bear traps and passing underneath the iron ball. However, he was too fast, and the traps snapped at empty air – except the last one, which latched onto its tail with a painful, toothy grip.

The monster's scream of pain prompted Gobber to look back over his shoulder triumphantly – only for the sight of the further-enraged Silver Rathalos chasing him down to wipe the smug grin right off his face.

He faced forward again just in time to see a cliff looming ahead of him. Gobber skidded to a halt just short of the edge, causing a few patches of snow to slip down into the forest hundreds of feet below. With nothing but empty air in front of him, and a furiously angry monster behind him, Gobber was trapped!

Gobber turned around, just in time to see the Silver Rathalos lunge forward, clutching him in his talons extremely tightly. Struggling and trying to ignore the crushing pain, Gobber could faintly see the monster's tail wagging behind him, one of the bear traps attached to it.

"_Then, captured, I did what any brave Viking would do!"_

The wyvern peered down at Gobber with one frightening green eye. Deeming his prey helpless, he opened his tooth-filled jaws to finish him off.

"HEEEEEELP!" screamed Gobber, the cry echoing across the mountainous forest. He knew that he was probably already doomed, and that no one would come in time to save him.

"_The gods must have heard me prayers. It was Thor!"_

But just as Gobber thought that his yelling was a lost cause, a great shadow fell across the mountains. From a gigantic thundercloud that floated thousands of kilometers up in the vast sky, the mighty figure of Thor stared down imperiously at the Silver Rathalos and the trapped Viking, a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder announcing his arrival magnificently.

"Ooooooooh," breathed Gobber, eyes widening in awe.

"_He tossed a mighty thunderbolt!"_

Thor reared back and hurled an impressively large bolt of pure lightning. The bolt lanced down from the heavens, dead on course for the cliff.

But then, Gobber's look of awe faded as he followed the thunderbolt's path down the cliffside and into the ground far below.

"Huh," he snorted, unimpressed. "Yeh missed!"

"Wait for it…" rumbled Thor, holding his hand up as a gesture of caution.

"_Then, from the center of the earth, blasted forth… the hammerhead yak riding the hammerhead whale! And they were being carried by a monstrous hammerhead hawk!"_

The ground shook, and from the smoking crater that Thor's thunderbolt had created, out flew a massive grey bird of prey, big and strong enough to streak upward as a blur while carrying the whale and the yak in its talons.

The hammerhead hawk, once it had soared high above the cliff, dropped the whale. The sea beast blasted the yak off of its back with a spurt of water from its blowhole, and the yak landed on the cliff directly in front of the Silver Rathalos.

With a snarl, the yak threw a punch with its hoof, bashing the wyvern in the face. It then dealt a devastating uppercut, throwing the Silver Rathalos into the air. Finally, it ended with a two-hooved smash to the head, making the stunned monster drop into the snow like a rock. Gobber scrambled free of his claws, just as a shadow fell on the Silver Rathalos.

The whale, jaws opened wide, took a huge bite out of the cliffside, taking the Silver Rathalos with it. The hawk followed closely, passing the whale and diving back into the crater. But the Silver Rathalos soon wriggled free of the whale's jaws and flew off, limping through the air with the bear trap stuck to his tail.

But Gobber didn't care. Amazed, he peered over the cliff and watched the whale and the yak go. And with a happy whale-song, the whale turned its head up toward him and merrily saluted him with its fin.

Gobber smiled fondly and saluted it back, then waved in thanks.

"Yeah!" he cried triumphantly, then doubled over in pain. "My back…!"

* * *

**Graveyard Island**

"That does it," muttered Snaketail.

Now Hiccup was skeptical as well. Snotlout and Astrid looked fed up, and Ruff and Tuff had uncomprehending expressions. It was very clear that everyone was very tired with Gobber's tall tales.

Almost everyone.

"Whoa, the whale saluted you?!" squealed Fishlegs.

"Ha, can ya believe it?" replied Gobber, laughing. "But the Silver Rathalos got away _again_! He found me on Berk, and… well, ya know the rest."

"Come on!" shouted Snotlout. "You totally made everything up!"

"There's no 'center of the earth'," scoffed Batwings, tucking his wings more tightly against his back. "The world is flat. Flatter than Ruff's chest. Everyone knows that."

"Hey!" yelled the Thorston girl, highly insulted.

"You don't even have any proof that this thing exists!" accused Tuff.

"Of course I have proof!" replied Gobber, indignantly. "I still have the treasure – this stunning belt buckle! It was in the Viking's treasure chest. It's kept me pants up fer years."

He lifted up his shirt, allowing us to see the belt buckle for ourselves. It was made of pure silver, and was an oddly twisted shape, perfect for holding someone's pants up.

"It _is_ stunning," agreed Arachne.

Hiccup suddenly yelped when Astrid punched him in the shoulder. He turned to give her an appalled look, and she just glared skeptically back and gestured to Gobber. Knowing just what she meant, the Haddock boy sighed and made his way across the ruins, where Gobber was sitting on a boulder.

"Listen, Gobber?" he said tentatively. "Instead of chasing down an imaginary monster, maybe we should figure out how to get home."

Gobber put down his whetstone and examined his sharpened hook, then stood up and looked down at Hiccup. "Say no more," he said seriously. "I hear yeh loud an' clear. I've got a plan."

Then, he looked over the gang appraisingly and asked, "Now, who'd like ta be monster bait?"

Hiccup facepalmed exasperatedly. _I can't believe this is happening,_ he thought.

Nonetheless, everyone nervously stepped away from Gobber's hook, which he pointed at them. Fishlegs was too slow to react, though, and thus he ended up being the sole volunteer for Gobber's plan.

A half hour later, they were standing in a clearing with ivy-covered ruins all around them. Fishlegs had been hastily disguised as a Gobber look-alike, wearing a dragon skull for a helmet, some rope for a mustache, and a talon bone for a hook. He stood on a pile of mixed rubble and bones, while a gigantic ribcage attached to a sturdy rope dangled above him. The whole thing was framed by two ancient towers.

"Uh, Gobber?" called Fishlegs. "A-Are you sure this is safe?"

Gobber squinted at him, then waved a dismissive hand and replied, "Ah, safety's overrated."

He motioned Hiccup and the rest of the gang, minus Fishlegs, behind a pile of ruins and began to speak. "Okay, here's the plan," he said. "The Silver Rathalos wants me, right? He comes down that trail" – he pointed at a misty path that wound deeper into the ruins – "sees Fishlegs, thinks it's me, rushes Fishlegs" – said boy squeaked with fear – "causing Phil to trip that rope" – he pointed to the tripwire he had set up next to the nonchalantly-grazing sheep – "dropping that ribcage, and then we rush in and finish him off, once and for all!" By the end of his speech, he was beaming proudly.

"It's sad when they get old," whispered Snotlout.

"Gobber, you are taking this way too far," Hiccup said fiercely. "Just get it through your head and accept it – there is no such thing as the Silver Rathalos!"

"Wormsquat," insisted Gobber. "Now, get into position." He peeked over the ruins to look across the clearing at Fishlegs, and shouted, "Way to go, Fishlegs! Yer doin' fine!"

Frustrated, Hiccup made a strangled sound halfway between a groan and a growl before settling in to wait beside the others. He didn't understand why Gobber insisted on doing this anyway – it made so much more sense to spend their time figuring out a way to get back home, instead of hunting for a made-up monster!

"Why does no one listen to me?" he growled to himself.

As the scrawny boy stewed in his own frustration, the other teenagers were arguing amongst themselves. Their voices slowly began to get louder as they debated back and forth.

"No wonder the whole village thinks you're crazy," Snaketail muttered.

"He probably saw an Azure Rathalos and mistook it for silver," added Astrid.

"Everyone knows the Silver Rathalos is just an old wife's tale," said Ruffnut for good measure.

"And what about the hammerhead yak?" demanded Tuffnut. He shoved his sister over to give himself some room, and she shoved him back twice as hard.

The argument was getting more and more heated, with everyone trying to talk over everyone else. In fact, the group never even heard Fishlegs' calls, or the soft sound of wingbeats as something closed in from behind.

Finally, Fishlegs screamed, "GUYS!"

Everyone responded with a unified "WHAT?!"

Then a quiet, menacing growl reached their ears, along with what felt like a hot wind blowing at the back of their necks. It was accompanied by a strange, metallic clinking sound.

"He's right behind us, isn't he?" asked Hiccup drily.

Then they all turned around, and their mouths dropped open in a silent gasp. There stood the Silver Rathalos, much bigger than a regular red Rathalos, his silver-and-black scales glittering in the sparse moonlight that shone through the clouds overhead. He stood tall with his head raised high in the air, his bright green eyes looking down his beaked snout to stare at the comparatively tiny humans below him. His spiny tail waved back and forth across the ground, the old bear trap attached to it making a clinking noise every time it moved. He spread its wings – but instead of a blinding silvery flash of light, all they saw was dull grey skin.

"Well what do you know?" Fishlegs murmured to himself, across the clearing. "His wings don't shine."

But the Silver Rathalos didn't care about that. All he wanted was to finally get his revenge on the Viking that stole _his_ treasure so long ago. Eyes narrowed and fixed on Gobber, he belted out an awesome roar that sent the group scattering.

"Okay, Gobber!" gasped Astrid, scrambling over the ruins. "We believe you!"

"They do say that seeing is believing!" squeaked Snaketail, ducking under a fireball shot from the monster's jaws.

"And you wondered what was unnerving me so!" added Batwings. He was still too scared to open his wings, and he scrabbled with his talons across the ground alongside his friends.

The Silver Rathalos exhaled a fireball that exploded against the ground just behind the fleeing Vikings, and the small shockwave that ensued from the blast threw them all onto the pile of bones. The next instant, the ribcage dangling above suddenly dropped down upon them.

"PHIL!" scolded Gobber.

The sheep didn't even glance at him, just kept grazing.

Trapped, Hiccup and the rest couldn't do anything to escape the wrathful Rathalos. He swatted at the ribcage with his tail, the bear trap clinking loudly against the bones, and buffeted the Vikings with gusts from his wings. Sooner or later, he would find a way to get them out in the open, and then pick them off one by one.

The Silver Rathalos inhaled deeply, gas forming at the back of his throat. Everyone threw themselves against the ribs that held them prisoner just before a blast of flames tore through the gaps in the cage.

"Find a happy place… find a happy place…" muttered Snotlout.

"He wants my head!" screamed Fishlegs, swinging his Carapace Mace wildly before him. "I swear he wants my head!"

"Bring it on, butt-elf!" demanded Tuffnut. He brandished his Red Prominence Lance and added, "No one messes with Tuffnut Thorston! Except Ruffnut."

Hiccup had his Hunter's Dagger out and held in front of him defensively. But as he stared up at the furious monster, now biting savagely at the ribs, he remembered something that Fishlegs had said earlier.

"He searches for the perfect minerals to build his coat of silver…" he murmured in realization. "Wait a second… the treasure!"

Hiccup instantly glanced toward Gobber, whose silver belt buckle glinted faintly underneath his shirt.

"Gobber!" cried Hiccup. "Take off your pants!"

"Eh?" replied the blacksmith, giving his apprentice a quizzical look.

"NO!" shrieked everyone else.

Hastening to explain, Hiccup scrambled over to Gobber and told him, "Listen – Fishlegs was right! The Silver Rathalos is supposed to have bright wings, but maybe this one doesn't because the silver he needs is your belt buckle!"

Meanwhile, the Silver Rathalos succeeded in ripping away one of the ribs from their cage.

Astrid, always a quick study, ran up to Gobber as well and agreed, "Please, Gobber, you have to give it back!"

"No way! It's mine!" Gobber said stubbornly.

And then the Silver Rathalos lunged forward through the gap in the ribcage, his head reaching just far enough for him to clamp his jaws around Gobber's peg leg.

"Uh oh," he added. With a quick wrench, the Silver Rathalos pulled him out of the cage and began to toss his head around, shaking Gobber wildly in all directions.

"Give him back his silver!" Hiccup called.

"Noooooooo!" he called back.

"_Give him back his silver!_" Batwings yelled, more forcefully.

"NOOOOOOOO!" bellowed Gobber.

Finally, tiring of his little game, the Silver Rathalos tilted his head back and tossed Gobber high into the air. Down below, everyone gasped and ran to the large gap in the ribcage in order to get a better look.

"NOOOOOOO…!" repeated Gobber, but then he appeared to give in. His yell petered down to "…oh, all right…" and with that, he ripped off the piece of silver holding his pants up and flung it down at the wyvern.

Eagerly, the Silver Rathalos opened his jaws and swallowed the precious metal whole. Instantly, he let out a contented gurgle and flexed his wings, appearing to enjoy the taste. Slowly at first, blotches of shiny silver appeared and started to spread across his broad wings, and then spread much more rapidly until they were covered with silver.

Then, he opened up his wings, and they glowed with a brilliant, blinding light. Hiccup immediately ducked his head, his eyes hurting from even that brief glimpse of the Silver Rathalos' shining wings. The rest followed his lead, even as they heard Gobber fall with a clatter into a smaller pile of bones.

Almost reverently, the Silver Rathalos folded his new silver wings, banishing the glow. He glared at the spot where Gobber had fallen, and lunged forward with a screech. The gusts of wind whipped up from his wings scattered the bones, exposing the shaken Viking and allowing him to see his nemesis charging forward to finish him.

"He's still mad!" squeaked Arachne. She was hiding behind Astrid's leg, so terrified was she.

"What do we do now?" wondered Ruffnut.

In the nick of time, Gobber managed to dive out of the Rathalos' path. Without stopping, he turned swiftly and charged after the Viking again, crashing into the ribcage as he did so. Shaking his head to clear the dizziness that was caused by the impact, the Silver Rathalos ran right over Gobber, who got up and managed to grab onto the end of the monster's tail.

"What in the name of Thor is that lunatic doing?!" demanded Snotlout incredulously.

Noticing that his archrival was now clinging to his tail, the Silver Rathalos began to turn and shake wildly, trying to throw him off. But Gobber hung on strongly, keeping his grip through every lash, whip, and shake of the monster's tail.

"No yeh don't!" he managed to grunt. "I still got one more thing ta do to yeh first, beastie!"

Hiccup's mouth dropped open. _He still isn't trying to slay him, is he?_ he thought. The question was accompanied by a hot flash of panic.

Gobber climbed further up the Silver Rathalos' tail and reached the bear trap that clung to it. From the sidelines, Hiccup could see that the trap's teeth dug deep into the wyvern's flesh, and that the wounds were caked with dried blood. He could guess that the Silver Rathalos had endured years of agony thanks to that trap.

And in a flash, it was off. Gobber grabbed both jaws of the trap, pulled with all his Viking strength, and the trap released its hold on the Silver Rathalos' tail.

At once, the monster hurled Gobber off of its tail and down to the ground at his claws. The Silver Rathalos dipped his head down toward the blacksmith, his expression fearsome but unreadable. Then – he nuzzled Gobber, gurgling deep in his throat.

Gobber stumbled when the wyvern's muzzle nudged him, and his pants subsequently fell off, revealing his dirt-streaked underpants. The entire gang turned around with various disgusted reactions.

"That's going to give me nightmares…" muttered Hiccup, screwing his eyes shut and grimacing.

"At least we have a ride home," noted Astrid, gesturing to the silver wyvern.

Hiccup grinned as he saw Gobber using his hook to scratch the monster under the chin while it wagged its injured tail enthusiastically. _So much for that rivalry._

But just then, there was a mighty roar that sounded from over the mountains behind them. Gobber flinched in fright, as did the others. But the Silver Rathalos perked up, raised his head, and let out an answering roar that carried for miles.

Snaketail asked the obvious. "What was that?"

And it was Hiccup who answered her. "I think it was… that," he said, pointing up at the peak of the mountain.

Everyone looked up – and gasped in awe. There, soaring above the mountain's white-capped crest, was a huge, gleaming golden wyvern. It roared again, flew one last circle around the mountain, and then dove downwards toward the ruins.

Hiccup could not believe his eyes. The golden wyvern landed elegantly on the ground and stalked toward the Silver Rathalos, letting out a soft croon. The silver one crooned back and approached the golden one, extending his wings and letting them flash in the moonlight. The golden one opened its wings and flashed them as well.

"I don't believe it," murmured Fishlegs. "The Book of Monsters was right! That's a Gold Rathian!"

"No way," exclaimed Arachne, pushing her way to the front of the gang so she could see.

The Gold Rathian was every bit as majestic as the Silver Rathalos. She looked almost identical to the male wyvern, only a little bit smaller. Instead of long spines adorning her tail, she had a cluster of barbs that stuck out from the tip. She also had a long spike on her chin, and spotted patterns on her wings. And, of course, instead of silver, her body was coated from head to tail in pure gold.

Not even Gobber could find his voice as he looked upon the glittering pair of bejeweled wyverns. The pair nuzzled each other lovingly, seeming to have fallen in love with each other at first sight.

"Whoa, I thought they just met," Tuff said bluntly.

"And they're acting like they've known each other for years," Ruff added.

"Well, the Book of Monsters says that some monsters from the Flying Wyvern class are very emotional and romantically-inclined," lectured Fishlegs. "It's very likely that those two have already accepted each other as mates. Legend says that the Silver Rathalos and Gold Rathian meet up in secluded places, like these ruins for instance, in order to court each other. It's called the Moonlit Tryst."

Involuntarily, Hiccup slipped a hand onto Astrid's shoulder as he watched the Rathalos and Rathian nuzzle and lick each other affectionately. The Hofferson girl started, then put her own hand on his shoulder. With their friends behind them, they silently watched the Moonlit Tryst play out before their eyes.

* * *

**Sea Around Berk**

It wasn't every day you rode on the back of a mythical monster. Hiccup, Gobber, Astrid, and the entire gang managed to fit on the Silver Rathalos, who beat its wings as it flew majestically over the ocean. Its scales and wings gleamed magnificently in the light of the full moon. Releasing a happy roar, it dove down toward the surface of the ocean and skimmed it briefly, the Gold Rathian following behind it.

"You know, I never doubted him," Snotlout said to Fishlegs. "I was always like, he's right."

Behind him, Snaketail and Ruffnut were standing up on the Silver Rathalos' back, their long hair whipping in the ocean breeze. Behind them, though, Tuffnut was stuck riding the Rathalos' tail, and winced as he felt one of the monster's tail spikes digging into him.

"Ow!" he yowled. "His tailbone is hurting _my_ tailbone!"

The Silver Rathalos let out another joyful call, one that was mimicked by the Gold Rathian as she flew beside him.

"He sure seems happy to have gotten that silver," Hiccup remarked from behind Gobber.

His mentor nodded, back in his usual jolly mood. "I'm thinkin' of keepin' this monster fer me own!" he replied. "Yeh know, just like you and yer friends, Hiccup! I'll call him… Silversol!"

And as Berk became visible in the distance, Silversol and his mate doubled their pace, eager to arrive at their new home.

Just then, Hiccup heard something – a long, loud wail coming from the sea below. He peered over Silversol's back and squinted through the darkness. It was still the middle of the night, and he couldn't see well, but the boy could swear he saw a whale swimming around down there.

He took out his spyglass and looked through it. What he saw made him rub his eyes and clean the glass of the little telescope, and then take another look through it. Was it just him, or was there a furry animal and a giant bird riding on the whale's back?

Hiccup was about to put the spyglass away when he saw the whale turn its massive head up toward him and give him a jaunty salute.

_That does it,_ the Haddock boy decided. _I'm hallucinating. When we get back, I should sleep until noon._

* * *

**That concludes the third chapter! Of course, I couldn't resist having the hammerhead whale, yak, and hawk make one last cameo – and who knows, maybe they'll appear again!**

**But for now, the gang will be back on Berk with their loyal monster companions. Leave a review and some feedback, and stay tuned for the next great chapter!**

**Also, I just went to see Rio 2 in theatres – and was completely blown away by the HTTYD 2 sneak peek they so kindly released! You had better believe that I'll be writing about the second movie!**

**Up next: Viking for Hire**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 4**_

_**Viking for Hire Part 1**_

* * *

_Everybody needs a place in the world._

_Some people are born to theirs. Some people discover theirs. And some people make a place for themselves. But then, the world around them changes… and the place they made is gone._

* * *

**Berk Monster Academy**

It was a few days after the monster riders had went to Graveyard Island with Gobber, and brought back the magnificent Silver Rathalos and Gold Rathian. They were back to training at the Berk Monster Academy, and they had never felt more relieved to settle back into their daily routines.

"Now," Hiccup was lecturing, "each and every monster has its own characteristics that give it its own place in the world. What monster makes the best welding torch?"

The Haddock boy, leader of the Berk Monster Riders (as they were now calling themselves), had set up a scoreboard and divided his friends into two teams. While Arachne and Snotlout watched lazily on the sidelines, the teams were asked various questions about monsters and dragons. Every time someone answered one of Hiccup's questions correctly, he marked down a point on his scoreboard.

However, Hiccup was beginning to realize that he should have balanced out the Monster Riders a little bit more. One team consisted of Snaketail and the twins, while the other was made up of Batwings, Astrid, and Fishlegs. One side had experience, intellect, and the unique lifestyle of a Siren, while the other side had nothing but confusion, cluelessness, and stupidity.

"Can you repeat the question?" asked Tuffnut dumbly.

Hiccup sighed and granted his request. He asked again, "What monster makes the best welding torch?"

Immediately, Batwings slammed his hand down on the barrel in front of him. "The Gravios!" he answered.

"Its blasts of pure lava burn with the heat of the sun!" put in Fishlegs.

"Correct!" Hiccup told them. He wasn't surprised, but he was impressed. "Point to Team Batwings, and the score is now one hundred and ten to ten."

On the sidelines, Snotlout snickered. "And you guys _started_ with ten," he said to the twins as he polished his Brazen Clout Hammer.

"Yeah?" challenged Tuff. "Well, the game's not over. Wait – what team am I on?"

Mentally, Hiccup facepalmed. "Alright, moving on. What is the shot limit of the Teostra and Lunastra, Team Snaketail?"

"I don't think they can count that high," whispered Astrid to Fishlegs and Batwings.

"Oh really?" smirked Ruff. "Let's find out. Queen, King?" she called.

Both elder dragons raised their heads high and began spitting bursts of fire. As Astrid and the others ducked under the blasts, the monsters kept alternating their blasts until they had used up all of their shots.

"Looks like it's about… three," Tuff concluded.

"Told you we could count that high," crowed Ruff.

"Actually, it's six each," corrected Hiccup, somewhat exasperatedly. "You're halfway there. That question was worth five points."

"Now we're up to thirty!" exclaimed Tuff, high-fiving his sister and Snaketail while he shot a smirk across the arena.

Astrid met his grin with a scowl. "All right, it's our turn," she said menacingly. "What happens when you shoot fire at the owner of a Yian Garuga?"

The Hofferson girl gave a sharp whistle, and Blackhawk, who had been napping behind her, bolted awake with a loud shriek. She reflexively snapped her tail forward and fired a dozen toxic tail spines that pinned the other three to the far wall.

"No fair," complained Ruff.

"She didn't give us time to answer!" added Tuff.

Snaketail freed herself from the spines and hopped down to the ground, incensed. "Here's a question," she growled. "What happens when I sic Twinhorn on you?"

"OK!" interrupted Hiccup loudly. "So we got some really good training done today, right gang?"

But the Grundenson girl didn't listen to him. She jumped onto the sleeping Twinhorn's back, roughly patting her neck to wake her up – but the Diablos got up and, with a snarl of annoyance, bucked her rider right off. Then her clubbed tail whipped around and swatted Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, in the face, causing him to go berserk and spit fire bolts all over the place.

Snotlout shrieked and dropped his weapon as a blast of flames hit him directly in the rear. He raced for the trough of water that Hiccup had set up near the edge of the arena just in case of this very occasion, and dove into it.

"This is the third time this week!" complained the Jorgenson as the fire was extinguished. "Ah, sweet relief…" he added with a sigh.

"Twinhorn never does that when you ride her," Hiccup told Snaketail. "Is everything okay?"

As Snaketail picked herself painfully off the ground and Twinhorn settled back down to sleep, Astrid taunted, "Maybe she just realized who her rider is."

"There's room in here for two," suggested Snotlout with a grin, and Astrid shoved his face into the ice-cold water in response.

* * *

**Village Plaza**

Curiously, Hiccup wandered into the plaza after dismissing the Berk Monster Riders' meeting. He saw a large crowd gathered there, and could hear Gobber's cheery voice calling "Okay, gather 'round! Come on, one and all!"

Pushing his way to the front of the crowd, Hiccup could see the blacksmith was standing behind a plain table with a huge cart of weapons at his side. Beside him, Silversol the Silver Rathalos was napping in the sun, his scales gleaming brilliantly.

Gobber rapped a Longsword on his table for attention, cleared his throat loudly, and began to speak. "Yeh may think these monster-killin' weapons have no more use. But think again! Fer instance, this Longsword I have here is now a lovely butter knife."

He held up a plate with a single piece of toast on it, and commenced spreading butter on it with the flat of his blade. However, the toast was sliced to pieces in the process.

"Also great at makin' breadcrumbs!" added Gobber in a rather strained voice, even as the plate crumbled in his hook.

"Oh, this is a dark day," murmured a voice beside Hiccup. He didn't even have to look up to know just who was speaking to him – Mildew. The old man continued, "A great hunter, reduced to peddling his weapons as kitchen utensils." He clucked sympathetically.

Hiccup just ignored him.

"Up next," continued Gobber, holding up a large mace-like Hunting Horn. "How about this, uh… this handy fly swatter!"

He swung the Hunting Horn over his head and smashed it down on a horsefly that had just landed on his table – crushing said table to splinters in the process.

"Ah… also good at gettin' rid of unwanted furniture!" he chuckled nervously, as the horsefly buzzed away.

For the second time that day, Hiccup mentally facepalmed.

"Now, fer the lady o' the house!" added Gobber with a flourish, walking over to a large portable catapult. "When the hubby's off pillagin', how're yeh gonna protect yerself from home invaders? No problem when ya have big Bertha!"

He knocked affectionately on the catapult, which promptly flung a boulder at a distant house. Several people winced at the tremendous crash that ensued, and they began to disperse.

"Wait, there's more!" Gobber called desperately. "Ya haven't seen everythin'! I haven't cleared out me dungeon yet!"

Perhaps hearing the blacksmith's pleas, Batwings flew down and began to talk to him about trading his weapons away to Trader Johann, or possibly keeping them handy in case of 'home invaders'. Hiccup began to walk away sorrowfully, Mildew following close behind.

"Oh, it's hard to watch, isn't it," the old man lamented. "Especially for you, eh Hiccup? The feelings of guilt must be tearing at your insides. I mean, you put Gobber out of business with your little peace pact with the monsters. You ruined his life. Bravo!"

As he stalked off, Hiccup could hear Batwings flutter away, apparently unsuccessful at convincing Gobber, and the blacksmith himself murmuring sadly, "Its okay, Bertha. We'll find a place fer ya."

* * *

**Hiccup's House**

Hiccup sat in his room near the stairwell, his legs dangling over the edge, with Sightless curled up alongside him. He didn't know what the Gore Magala was thinking about, but it seemed as though the monster could sense his concerns and worries, and was giving him a questioning look as if saying, _Is everything alright, Hiccup?_

"You know, Gobber made this for me," the boy said, and drew his prosthetic leg up beside him.

Sightless looked as if he understood, but other than a soft growl, he said nothing.

Hiccup continued, "He taught me everything I needed to know to make your splint. And I know that it's partially my fault that he's having trouble finding a use for his blacksmithing. We have to help him, Sightless. He needs to find a new job that'll make him feel… well, not useless."

_Like you,_ Sightless replied silently.

"Exactly like me," affirmed Hiccup as if he was actually having a conversation with the monster. "I know what it's like to feel that you aren't needed."

He was about to go on, when suddenly the door slammed downstairs. There was a muffled thump and a shriek as Batwings woke up and fell off of his perch. Startled, Hiccup and Sightless went downstairs to see an irritated Siren standing up while rubbing his head, and Stoick hanging up his helmet tiredly.

"Everything okay?" inquired Hiccup.

"Oh yes," Batwings muttered. "Couldn't be better."

Stoick sat down in his chair heavily, breathing a huge sigh of exhaustion. "I was all over the island," he groaned. "First I married the Svenson girl to the Endergard boy at dawn, then I went down to the fields where some kids were tipping over yaks –"

"Probably the twins," chuckled Batwings as he climbed back into the rafters.

"… and then back up to the newlyweds to settle a domestic dispute," Stoick finished. As Hiccup handed him a mug of water, he added bitterly, "Thank goodness _that_ wedding's over. Sometimes I wish there were two of me."

Hiccup, followed by Sightless of course, went over to the fire pit to tend the fire. As the junior Haddock poked at some hot coals that were beginning to fizzle out, he heard the creak of wood as Batwings rolled over on his perch.

"Wait a second," the Siren exclaimed. "There _are_ two of you!"

"Was that another crack about my weight, dragon?!" demanded Stoick.

"No," he replied. "I was talking about Gobber. He's having trouble finding a new place in the village now that he can't find any more uses for his weapons… which is ridiculous, what with Trader Johann and Outcast raids and whatnot…"

While Batwings continued to mutter to himself, Hiccup walked up to his father's side and summed it up in one sentence. "_Gobber_ can be the other you!" he proclaimed.

"Gobber?" repeated Stoick after a pause. "He's too busy making all those monster-killing –"

He suddenly shot a quick glance at Sightless and began again. "I mean, he used to be busy, until you – which is great! Except, you know, for Gobber…"

Hiccup and Batwings both chuckled, and even Sightless emitted a growl that could pass for a laugh. "Our point exactly," Hiccup told him.

Stoick stood up and didn't move for a few seconds, musing to himself. He then looked down at his son and said, "You know, that's actually not such a bad idea. I could use a right hand."

Batwings chuckled again. "That really works out," he commented. "Because that's kind of the only one he has."

* * *

**Village Plaza**

The next day, Stoick loudly knocked on the door of Gobber's forge. "Gobber!" he called. "I need to talk to you!"

"Over here, Stoick!" came the reply. It sounded as if Gobber was around the back of his forge, so Stoick meandered on behind the building to see what the blacksmith was up to.

As it turned out, he was currently running a Longsword across Silversol's hard scales. The Silver Rathalos was growling contentedly as he lay there in the sunlight, wings spread out so he could get the most warmth out of his nap.

"What're you doing, Gobber?" asked Stoick curiously.

"Turns out I can add another potential use fer this Longsword," Gobber answered. "I bet Silversol can agree that it makes a lovely backscratcher!"

"Ah… right," Stoick said after a moment, unable to think of anything else to say. "Anyway, I greatly appreciate you coming to help me with my duties as Chief, Gobber."

"I'm jus' glad I could find time in me busy schedule, Stoick," he replied earnestly, putting away the Longsword.

Stoick nodded and took a piece of parchment out of his pocket. He ripped it in two and held one of the halves out to Gobber.

"I have a busy day of me, now," the Chief told him. "This is your half."

Gobber took it, looked it over, and said with mild enthusiasm, "This should be interestin'."

"Remember," Stoick continued seriously. "Some of these situations are delicate. They require diplomacy."

"Oh, of course," Gobber assured him. "I'm great at… that," he finished blankly.

"You?" asked Stoick, surprised. His friend had given plenty of wonderful advice to Hiccup over the years, but he was still a little skeptical of Gobber's claim. "You can speak to people with tact and sensitivity?"

Only now did the blank look in Gobber's eyes vanish. "Oh, I thought it meant clubbin' people on the head and askin' questions later!" he responded cheerfully. "But I can give yer thing a shot."

Shaking his head, Stoick watched Gobber limp away, whistling merrily. Silversol watched too, then spread his wings and took off for a morning flight.

_I hope it's just my breakfast giving me that funny feeling,_ thought Stoick as he wandered off in the opposite direction. _Otherwise, I think I'm in for another long, tiring day._

* * *

**Hiccup's House**

Hiccup came down the staircase from his room, where he had been sketching in his notebook, and was in time to see his father sit down on his chair, holding two large bricks of ice to his temples. He winced silently, suspecting he knew the reason for Stoick's headache, and joined him at the dinner table, passing him a plate of chicken legs.

"Two-block headache tonight, huh Dad?" he asked delicately. "You know, I think you're being a bit… ah, rough on Gobber. It _was_ only his first day. Tomorrow should be much better."

Stoick put down the ice and picked up a leg. "Oh, it will be," he agreed, "because it won't involve Gobber."

Frowning, Hiccup asked, "What are you talking about? It was that bad?"

"I tried to fit a square peg in a round hole, and it ended up sinking a ship and naming a baby girl Magnus," Stoick replied exhaustedly.

"That does sound bad," remarked Batwings. "We still have to help him, though!"

"_We_ don't have to do anything," corrected Stoick. "You two, on the other hand, will be very busy finding a job for Gobber." Then, he got up from his chair and stomped off to his room, taking his chicken with him.

"There's always the Berk Monster Academy," Batwings suggested cheerfully. "I mean, what do we have to lose?"

"Our monsters, probably," replied Hiccup, raising an eyebrow. "You know how Gobber's one of the best hunters Berk has ever seen."

"You're not giving him a chance," the Siren pointed out, swiping a charred fish from the spit over the fire pit. "I expect that from Snotlout, not you."

As much as Hiccup hated to admit it, he had a point.

"Alright, alright," he said resignedly. "But don't be surprised if something goes wrong."

* * *

**Berk Monster Academy**

"You're bringing Gobber _here_?" asked Fishlegs nervously.

Hiccup sighed, faced the skeptical looks all of the Monster Riders (and some of the monsters) were giving him, and explained, "He's going to be great. Nobody knows monsters like ol' Gobber. He's spent a lifetime… uh… studying them."

"Studying is _one_ way of putting it, yes…" muttered Snaketail.

Letting out another sigh, Hiccup couldn't help but admit to himself that this was a bad idea. But as Batwings had said last night, he at least needed to give Gobber a chance. Indeed, this might not turn out as bad as he thought it would.

"I'm back!" called Gobber from outside the academy.

"Just watch, guys," assured Hiccup. "This isn't going to be that bad."

But when he opened the gate to let the blacksmith through, and saw that he was dragging his entire array of monster-slaying weapons behind him, the Haddock boy couldn't help but think, _They're right. This isn't going to work out at all._

Still, he had to at least give Gobber a chance.

"First of all, thank you for coming," he said uncertainly. "Second of all, ah, tiny question… Why did you bring your, you know…"

Gobber finished for him in a chipper voice, "Killing things? I thought we'd train the monsters by threatenin' ta kill 'em. That's how me daddy taught me ta swim."

Hiccup groaned and buried his face in his hands when Gobber took out a hideous-looking weapon that looked like a Lance, Switch Axe, and Hammer fused to the end of a Longsword.

"School's in session!" Gobber crowed, slamming the weapon onto the ground with a huge crash.

Immediately, the monsters, and dragons too, booked it out of the arena – first Blackhawk, then Hookfang, Snotsnarl, Mocktalk, Batwings, Queen, King, and Venomwing all flew out the exit and into the sky, away from the academy. Knowing that he couldn't fly without Hiccup's help, Sightless just ran to the other side of the arena and eyed Gobber suspiciously. Twinhorn actually attacked Gobber with an aggressive snarl, and subsequently got her horns stuck in the wall when he avoided the attack. Heatray simply hunkered down onto the ground so that his underbelly wouldn't be exposed.

"Eh," said Gobber idly, dusting himself off. "I didn't like school much either."

The rest of the Berk Monster Riders collectively groaned and rushed out of the academy, calling after their monster companions. And they didn't come back until at least three hours had past, long after the sun had begun to set, Gobber had left, and Twinhorn had wrenched her horns out of the wall.

Hiccup, Sightless, Heatray, and Twinhorn were all curled up against each other exhaustedly in the orange-red light the setting sun cast over them, when the other teens started coming back with their monsters in tow. It looked as though the monsters were perfectly fine, and had gotten the panic out of their systems.

But the riders themselves certainly didn't look fine. Everyone was panting, stretching, and groaning as they hopped off of their monsters' backs.

"What's wrong with you guys?" asked Hiccup, concerned.

"We were riding our monsters for _hours_," Astrid complained. "It took forever to catch them and bring them back after Gobber scared them away." She shot a glare toward Blackhawk, who intelligently backed away from the annoyed Hofferson girl.

"Yeah, sorry about that…" Hiccup said sheepishly. "I just don't know what to do with him."

"You'd better figure it out soon," Batwings growled, sliding off of Mocktalk's back. "Dratted Qurupeco was the hardest to catch. I wore out my wings chasing him down."

"So sorry!" squawked Mocktalk. "Mocktalk just scared!"

Batwings sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, I was too," he admitted.

Hiccup turned his head toward the twins in response to painful grunts coming from their direction. Ruff was mercilessly kicking her brother in the rear, and really seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Do you two always have to fight?" muttered Hiccup in exasperation.

"No, it's okay," panted Tuff. "I asked her to do that. Just trying to get the feeling back…"

"You going to return the favor or what?" asked Ruff, glaring at him and bending over.

Bewildered, Hiccup thought aloud, "I've flown for hours on Sightless, and I've never had a problem."

"That's because you have a saddle," Fishlegs pointed out, walking over to Heatray's side. The Gravios greeted his rider with a relieved rumble.

And just like that, the perfect idea burst into Hiccup's head. "Saddles!"

* * *

**Gobber's Forge**

"Saddles?" asked Gobber, honestly delighted. "I love it! I've got so many ideas!"

Hiccup had just asked the blacksmith to contribute to the Berk Monster Academy in a less direct way – designing and making saddles for monsters! That way, the Monster Riders would be able to ride for hours without getting uncomfortable, which would be a great help during future lessons. Not only that, it would also be a help for other monster riders that _weren't _part of the academy.

"But not like these," Gobber added dismissively, when Hiccup handed him a few of his drawings. "Good ones."

Hastily picking the papers up after Gobber tossed them over his shoulder, Hiccup scurried after his mentor. "I'm glad you're excited," he said hesitantly, "but I do think that there are things in my designs that you could use. I mean, you did teach me everything I know."

Gobber started sharpening an axe that he had found lying around the forge. "Exactly!" he replied, smugly. "That's why ya should let Gobber do what Gobber does best. I've been makin' saddles since you were in diapers – in fact, I _made_ yer diapers."

The Haddock boy realized that this situation would have to be handled delicately, like some of the situations his dad was going on about. _We're Vikings,_ he told himself exasperatedly. _We have stubbornness issues._

"I know you know what you're doing," he began, "but keep in mind, every monster is different. So you'll need to adjust the –"

But Gobber didn't want to hear it. He cut Hiccup off abruptly and put down his axe, then nudged him pointedly.

"I may have taught yeh everything you know, but not everything I know," he said with finality, and went back to work.

"Suit yourself…" muttered Hiccup under his breath, and walked out of the forge.

However, later that evening when Hiccup and Sightless were getting ready for an evening flight before they turned in for the night, they heard a lot of noise coming from Gobber's forge. The loudest was his singing, and the tune went like this;

"_I've got me axe and I've got me mace,_

_And I love me wife with the ugly face,_

_I'm a Viking through and through!_"

"You know," Hiccup told Sightless. "Gobber only sings that song when he's really happy. I think we did a good thing."

Sightless nodded and growled in agreement, smiling back at his rider.

* * *

**Next chapter will come soon, where Gobber will realize he isn't so obsolete after all once a certain couple of monsters start rampaging…**

**Starting in the next chapter, I'm going to try and figure out a way to add some Monster Hunter-related excitement to these chapters, since it has been mostly HTTYD storyline with not a lot of my little twists.**

**Review please, and wait patiently for the next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 4**_

_**Viking for Hire Part 2**_

* * *

**Berk Monster Academy**

Gobber was back at the academy, this time without any weapons in tow. Instead, he had brought with him a very large, lumpy object covered in a cloth, which Hiccup promised would be a great contribution to the academy.

"Okay," announced Hiccup to the Monster Riders, "this is an exciting day for all of us. Gobber has been working hard to –"

"I think they might wanna hear from the artist himself!" interrupted Gobber with pride in his voice, puffing out his chest. And when Hiccup nodded approval, he continued, "I've made a lotta saddles in me day. Horses, donkeys, and now monsters. But these saddles are special. They're like me children – that is, if ya strap yer child to a scaly beast and ride on it. So, without further ado…"

With a flair, he tossed off the cloth, revealing a variety of saddles, one for each rider. But that was when Hiccup began to get that sinking feeling. Did saddles normally have such heavy-duty weaponry attached to them?

"Wow, Gobber," the scrawny boy said. "This is… certainly not what I had imagined."

"How could it be?" crowed Gobber. "I'm Gobber! No one knows what it's like ta live up here." He tapped his helmet with his hook knowingly and grinned.

Hiccup walked over to Arachne, who was loading a saddle onto Venomwing's back. He squinted at the contraption mounted on the piece of leather and asked cautiously, "Is that a flamethrower?"

Gobber reached over Arachne's head and gave it a little demonstration – the resulting rush of flames scorched the top of Venomwing's head and caused her to shriek in pain, catapulting the Philston girl off of her with a yell. She landed with a loud *clang* on her helmet.

"Didn't see that one comin', didja?" the blacksmith chuckled.

"Uh, no," Hiccup replied. "Remobras already have poisonous saliva. So they've got the whole… projectile thing covered."

"Really," objected Gobber, "can ya really have too much firepower?"

The twins caught Hiccup's attention. Ruff and Tuff had loaded catapults on their saddles, which they pulled back and released simultaneously. The rocks that were in the catapults thumped against Queen and King's heads, and the Lunastra and Teostra slumped to the ground into unconsciousness.

"Catapults for the twins?" remarked Hiccup, sarcastically. "Not a very good idea."

He then took a look at Fishlegs, who had a saddle strapped to Heatray's back. Unfortunately, the saddle had four huge iron Hammers dangling from it, and the poor Gravios was struggling to rise into the air.

"You can do it, boy! Just think light thoughts!" encouraged the Ingerman boy.

But thoughts were no match for the massive Hammers, and Heatray suddenly crashed to the ground in a daze.

"Come on!" yelled Gobber disapprovingly. "That saddle can't weigh much more than Fishlegs!"

"My mom says I'm just husky," Fishlegs protested.

Snotlout, meanwhile, was struggling to load a saddle onto Hookfang, while Snotsnarl looked on with amusement. The Monstrous Nightmare wasn't cooperating – instead, he was incessantly scraping his head against the ground and growling. When Snotlout finally got the saddle on, Hookfang roared and flung it right off, lighting his body on fire. The saddle thumped against the far wall, and the dragon coiled up away from his rider.

"Come on, Hookfang!" snarled Snotlout. "What's wrong with you?! Ugh, okay. Who wants this dumb dragon?"

"I have my own problems!" bellowed Snaketail, who was hanging on for dear life from Twinhorn's horns. The Diablos was writhing and bucking, apparently because Snaketail had tried to strap a saddle to her neck. With a final roar, Twinhorn whipped her head to the side and sent Snaketail flying across the arena.

Not everyone was unhappy, though.

"These saddles are actually pretty good," Astrid commented approvingly. She and Batwings were flying around the academy on their monsters, without any problems whatsoever.

"Wait 'til ya try the horn!" called Gobber enthusiastically.

Both of them blew into the horns mounted on their saddles, and they automatically extended, abruptly amplifying the sound. The bellows from the two horns grew so loud, it aggravated Blackhawk and Mocktalk. The latter squawked in a panic and ran headlong into the wall, knocking both him and Batwings out. Blackhawk, on the other hand, flung her poisonous spines everywhere. While everyone else ducked out of the way, Snotlout was caught and pinned to the wall.

"Really, again?" he asked in dismay.

Hiccup made a strangled sound of disgust. "We're really gonna need to make a few –"

"Changes!" finished Gobber. "Way ahead o' ya! I've got so many new ideas. It's getting crowded up here," he added, tapping his helmet with a chuckle.

_This is impossible,_ Hiccup growled to himself. _Absolutely hopeless._

Hours later, the sun had begun to set, and Hiccup once again found himself alone in the arena with only Sightless and a snoring Snotlout for company. The scrawny Chief-to-be found himself cleaning up the mess that had resulted from Gobber's visit earlier, which consisted of burn marks, craters, Yian Garuga spines, Qurupeco feathers, and other assorted debris.

So far, he wasn't doing such a good job, which was made clear when Stoick walked in, exclaiming, "My Odin, what happened here? This place looked better when we were killing monsters here!"

"Yeah, we sort of got… Gobbered," his son replied, for lack of a better word.

"Well, you know Gobber," Stoick replied sadly. "He means well, but doesn't always do well. So, what _are_ you going to do about him?"

"I'm gonna clean up his mess and make a few changes to his work," answered Hiccup, dejectedly.

"Look," Stoick began, and Hiccup knew that he was in for another father-son lecture. "Gobber's like family –"

Hiccup interrupted, "I know! That's why I can't say anything to him!"

Shaking his head, Stoick continued sternly, "No, son. That's why you _have_ to. It's not fair to you, and it's not fair to Gobber."

"Why do I have to say something to him?" argued Hiccup, far from happy. "You didn't! You just passed him off to me!"

"That's what the Chief does – he delegates," explained Stoick. "Look, I gave you this academy because it's the best thing for Berk. Now you have to do what's best for the academy. I'm sorry, but what's best is very rarely what's easy."

Hiccup sighed and decided not to argue any further. His father put a strong arm around his shoulders and led him off, Sightless loping along behind them, and Hiccup couldn't help but be reminded of the last time they had spent a father-son moment like this together.

"What about him?" asked Stoick all of a sudden, gesturing to the sleeping Snotlout up on the wall.

"Leave him, he's going for a record," Hiccup replied with a smile.

Stoick chuckled. "Enough said."

* * *

**Gobber's Forge**

Hiccup and Sightless arrived at the forge after the sun had fully disappeared. It was very dark when they approached the forge and saw the cheerful orange glow streaming from its windows. Gobber's humming could be faintly heard as well.

"You never know, bud," Hiccup told the Gore Magala. "Gobber might have looked at my plans and is actually making the saddles better."

Sightless nodded his agreement – just as a huge explosion rattled the night and caused smoke to fly from Gobber's windows.

"Or maybe not," sighed Hiccup.

While Sightless stayed outside, Hiccup hesitantly walked inside the smithy. But almost immediately, he yelped and flinched back when he saw a crossbow pointed at his head.

"Don't shoot!" he cried, throwing up his hands.

"I'd never shoot yeh, Hiccup, unless I absolutely had ta," assured Gobber, putting down the crossbow. He led his apprentice inside the forge and continued conversationally, "Ya know, about the weapons. Maybe the catapults were a bit too much fer some o' the monsters yesterday, so I'm goin' a different way. I've taken out the two big ones."

Hiccup couldn't begin to describe how relieved he was when he heard that. "Gobber, that's great!" he replied. But unfortunately, he spoke too soon.

"An' replaced 'em with six little ones!" finished Gobber proudly, holding up a bunch of spoon-sized catapults.

Voice heavy, Hiccup reluctantly began to say what he had come to the forge to say. "Gobber, we need to talk. I think it might be time for you to… take a little break."

"In case ya hadn't noticed," Gobber snorted. "The only time a Viking takes a break is when he's dead."

"Maybe 'break' is the wrong word," Hiccup amended. "The thing is, I'm not sure things are working out. I'm… gonna need to take you off the saddle project."

There was nothing but silence from Gobber all of a sudden.

"Yer getting' rid o' me, Hiccup?" he finally asked, all his usual cheer gone from his voice. "Now I see why ya had me put down the crossbow."

"It's just the saddles," Hiccup hastily assured him. "I'm sure we can find something else for you."

But Gobber only shook his head and turned away. "I don't need yer pity. I've lost an arm and a leg… I think I'll survive losin' a job."

Sympathetically, Hiccup placed a hand on Gobber's back and held it there for a second, then quietly walked out of the forge with one last look at the displaced blacksmith.

"Oh, that was awful," the Haddock boy moaned when he had joined Sightless. "I feel so terrible. Dad was right in that it was the right thing to do, but… I don't know what could be worse."

Suddenly, there was a shrill scream from across the village, followed by a terrifying roar and a burst of scorching flame that lit up the sky.

"Alright, looks like we're about to find out," he finished.

A large crimson dragon smashed its way into Hiccup's view, sending Vikings running with blasts of flames from its mouth. Two of those Vikings were Snotlout and Snaketail, who looked, by far, the most panicked of all. And shockingly, the dragon that was chasing them was Hookfang!

"Hiccup…" wheezed Snotlout, once the two had reached him. "I never… thought I'd say this, but… Hiccup, HELP!" In little more than an instant, his voice went from tired to hysterically frightened.

Snaketail was too frightened to speak, and cowered behind Hiccup as Hookfang slithered up a building and roared deafeningly, shooting fire at whatever caught his attention. While Vikings fled in the masses from the raging Nightmare, the Berk Monster Riders quickly assembled and rushed to the scene.

"I don't know what it is!" Snotlout frantically said to Hiccup. "I was just patting his head! He loves that! But this time he went crazy! My dragon hates me…"

They all took a moment to observe Hookfang as he rampaged around the middle of the plaza. He was shaking his head wildly from side to side, embers dribbling from his jaws and landing all over the pavement around him.

"I've heard that a pet takes on the characteristics of its owner," stated Fishlegs. "I think that's what's happening here."

Snotlout ferociously punched him in the gut, to which he replied in a rasp, "Yep, I rest my case."

Hiccup whirled around to face Snaketail and gripped the cowering girl by the shoulders. "Snaketail, listen to me," he commanded. "I need you to get Twinhorn. If we need to stop Hookfang by force, then she's the monster for the job."

But Snaketail only gave him a much more fearful look and shook her head frantically. "I can't, Hiccup!" she protested. "Twinhorn just went insane when I tried to put her to sleep earlier, right before Hookfang started!"

Right on cue, the Diablos' screech echoed across the plaza, coming from elsewhere in the village.

"Oh, please tell me we don't have to round up and calm down _two_ rampaging reptiles," Hiccup muttered bitterly.

When the boy turned back to Hookfang, he couldn't help but notice that the Monstrous Nightmare kept scraping his head across the ground. It was almost as if he was scratching an itch, or trying to eat the pavement… and it was then that an idea burst into his mind.

"When's the last time Hookfang ate?" he asked Snotlout.

"Not for days," the Jorgenson answered.

Hiccup reached into a nearby basket and pulled out a fat fish. "You hungry, boy?" he asked Hookfang softly, and the dragon rapidly calmed down at the tempting smell of the morsel. He glared balefully for a second, but didn't make another move.

Hiccup tossed him the fish, and he instantly snapped it up and chewed it – but he suddenly shrieked and spat out the fish right as Stoick arrived on the scene.

"Eww," grimaced Arachne.

"Sorry about that, Dad," Hiccup said apologetically.

"We have to bring this beast under control!" the Chief demanded, throwing the slimy fish out of his beard. "And while we're at it, we might as well get the other one, too." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing in the direction of Twinhorn's furious screeching.

"It's got to be that Gore Magala and his eel pox again!" accused Mildew, hobbling up beside Stoick. "It's driving the monsters mad!"

Sightless twisted his head around and snarled at the old man.

"I can do this," insisted Hiccup as he cautiously approached Hookfang, his hand gently out in front of him. The Monstrous Nightmare still didn't move, and settled down enough to let him pat his head.

But as soon as Hiccup reached down and scratched his jaw, Hookfang roared again and blew a stream of fire straight at him. The noise prompted another shriek out of the distant Twinhorn, and the sound of a house being smashed to bits accompanied it.

"Hiccup, run!" yelled Astrid at the sight of Hookfang's flames.

"Way ahead of you!" he called back, and narrowly avoided the sticky fires. They hit Sightless instead, who screamed in rage and ran to protect his rider.

There was a brief face-off between the Gore Magala and the Monstrous Nightmare. Both of them snarled at one another, but instead of being frightened away by the much larger beast, Hookfang stood his ground and only became more aggressive. Sightless replied by unhooking his arms from his shoulders and planting them on the ground, allowing his cloak to spread out and billow intimidatingly in the cold night wind. He let out a chilling scream and extended a pair of horns from his hard-shelled muzzle, suddenly looking like a completely different and much more frightening monster.

"I have… never seen that before," realized Batwings. He seemed in awe of the Gore Magala's new, more fearsome appearance.

Only now did Hookfang back away from Sightless, forgetting his rage for the time being. But Hiccup knew that the dragon would regain his courage and attack again at any minute.

"I'm sorry son," Stoick said to his son. "We've tried it your way. If we can't control this dragon…"

He dropped the sentence and walked off, back in the direction of Gobber's forge. Hiccup gulped and immediately focused on Hookfang again, determined to fix whatever his problem was before Gobber could – permanently.

"Come on guys, think!" he said desperately. "What haven't we tried? Snotlout, you have an idea?"

The Jorgenson shook his head. Hiccup could see that he was getting a little scared, and with good reason.

"I know Ruff gets cranky every time she has a toothache," offered Tuffnut. "And every time she has a stomachache. And every time she just feels like being cranky." His sister subsequently hit him.

"Wait a second, Tuff might be right," gasped Hiccup, and he stared even harder at Hookfang. The Monstrous Nightmare was growling at Sightless again, and when he bared his teeth, Hiccup could faintly see that one of his teeth looked almost… rotten.

Without warning, the Haddock boy shoved his cousin toward Hookfang. "Snotlout, I know what's wrong," he said firmly. "I need you to get that bad tooth out of Hookfang's mouth, and fast."

Incredibly, Snotlout looked so much more confident now that he knew what to do. Putting his signature cocky smirk back on his face, he gave Hiccup a thumbs-up and raced toward Hookfang with a battle cry.

Startled, the dragon looked his way just in time to see Snotlout lunging at him. The big, arrogant Monster Rider landed directly on top of Hookfang's snout, holding fast even as the Nightmare began whipping his head around crazily, trying to get him off. But Snotlout was a particularly stubborn Viking, and held on tightly with one hand as he used his other hand to grip the rotten fang. With a mighty wrench, Snotlout pulled the tooth right out of its socket, the exertion causing him to fly right off of Hookfang's muzzle and hit the ground.

Immediately, Hookfang relaxed, and then it was as if he had never gone on a rampage in the first place.

"Yeah, I'm the Viking!" cheered Snotlout. "Snotlout, Snotlout, oi oi oi!"

"I never thought I'd be so glad to hear that line of his," grinned Astrid.

"Me too," admitted Hiccup. "Good thing we figured that out before Gobber got here."

Their moment of relief was short-lived, however, because the sound of something crashing through the village came from somewhere close by. It was accompanied by a familiar-sounding growl, and an even more familiar cry.

"Get down, all of you!" bellowed Stoick, running at full speed toward the plaza. Gobber was right behind him, who was armed with all kinds of weapons.

They all managed to get out of the way before the house that Stoick and Gobber had just run past exploded in a storm of splinters. Twinhorn smashed her way through the wreckage, her eyes practically glowing with anger and her brown scales streaked with dark markings. Immediately, Sightless ran to protect his rider, and leapt into her path with a loud, animalistic scream.

"It's okay, bud," murmured Hiccup, rushing to the Gore Magala's side. His tone was reassuring enough for Sightless to retract his horns and fold up his arms, and his cloak-like wings went back to their original position over top of his body.

"What's happened to her?" wondered Astrid. She took a cautious step away from the angry Diablos, who looked ready to attack at any moment.

"Gobber," answered Snaketail in a strangled voice, and pointed to the blacksmith.

Indeed, he was already unsheathing a Longsword and walking forward to challenge Twinhorn. He declared loudly, "Stand back. I'm here ta do what Gobber does best."

"He's going to kill my monster," Snaketail added, voice breaking.

"No, he's not!" Hiccup argued firmly. He didn't want his friend more upset than she already was. Besides, he wasn't going to let Gobber do such a thing!

"Uh, yes he is," Tuff piped up unhelpfully.

Ruff piled on, "You don't use that stuff to butter toast. Well, we would, but definitely not you."

Immediately, Hiccup ran to Stoick's side, a safe distance away from Gobber and Twinhorn. "Dad, you can't be serious! Twinhorn is Snaketail's monster!"

"Sorry, Hiccup," Gobber said grimly. "Sometimes ya hafta fall back on the old ways."

If anything, that only made Hiccup put his foot down. "Twinhorn is a good Diablos!" he argued.

"She's a good Diablos!" echoed Snaketail as her eyes welled with tears.

"There's probably just something wrong with her," Hiccup went on.

"There's definitely something wrong with her!" agreed Snaketail.

"We have to try and help her!" finished Hiccup. "We can't get rid of her just because she's having a bad day!"

"A bad day for a monster can be a disaster for us," Stoick intervened. "That's a risk I'm not willing to take."

Then the time for arguing was over. Gobber threw two bolas that tangled themselves around Twinhorn's huge head, and the Diablos retaliated by trying to gore him on her horns. She smashed through yet another house, then came around at him again for another attempt on his life, which he narrowly avoided.

Hiccup was only making things more difficult for Gobber by clinging to his sword arm and insisting that Twinhorn wasn't to be killed.

"Gobber, I can't let you do this," the Chief-to-be insisted.

"I don't have a choice," Gobber told him, and shook him off.

Then, both of them were forced to dive out of the way, in opposite directions, as Twinhorn barreled toward them once more. Instead of slamming into a house again, this time she crashed into one of the huge torch towers that stood in the plaza, which was made of wood but fortified with iron. Thanks to the addition of the sturdy metal, Twinhorn wasn't able to smash through it, and her horns bounced jarringly off of its surface. The Diablos roared in pain and shock, reeling away from the tower.

"Did yeh see that?" asked Gobber, momentarily shocked.

"I did," Hiccup replied, just as shocked. "She can't smash through iron!"

Gobber grinned and put down his sword, starting to unscrew his hook. "I'm gonna need a lotta iron!" he called, pointing to Snotlout and Tuffnut. They both saluted and ran off to fetch some.

"What are you doing, Gobber?" inquired Stoick.

"If this beastie can't get through metal, we can reinforce one o' the cages in the Berk Dragon Academy with it!" he replied almost giddily. "And fer that, I'm gonna need a few hours of bashin' time in me smithy! Guess me work ain't useless after all!"

Hiccup turned to his friends and told them what they had to do. "Alright, Monster Riders. Some of you will have to help Gobber in the forge and then install the iron fortifications on Twinhorn's old cage in the academy. The rest of you, get your monsters and lure her into the woods until we're ready to cage her."

"You got it!" affirmed Batwings. One stroke of his wings later, he was soaring off and calling for Mocktalk.

"Thank you so much, Hiccup," said Snaketail, and gave the Haddock boy a brief hug around the neck before rushing off toward Gobber's forge.

Astrid gave a loud whistle, and Blackhawk appeared at her side. She mounted the Yian Garuga and gave Hiccup a grin. "You can count on us," she assured him.

Already on Sightless' saddle, he replied, "I know I can."

"The rest o' yeh, we've got some smithin' ta do!" cheered Gobber, and limped off after Snaketail's retreating figure, followed by the rest of the teens.

Hiccup smiled to himself. Finally, it seemed that Gobber had realized that his niche as the village's blacksmith wasn't obsolete any more, and was willing to continue his work with more enthusiasm than ever before. Without a doubt, Hiccup knew that the effort he put into Twinhorn's new cage would be greater than any of the weapons he had made over the years.

Spreading his wings, Sightless sprang into the air, and Hiccup steered them over Twinhorn's head. They were joined by Blackhawk, Mocktalk, and their respective riders, and together, they began to lead Twinhorn away from the village. Growling with annoyance, the Diablos charged after them, unwittingly heading for the woods.

Hiccup looked over his shoulder, back in the direction of the plaza. Right now, he knew that Gobber, Snotlout, and the others would be already hard at work.

_Then we'll have to do the same,_ he decided, and prompted Sightless lower to goad Twinhorn into running faster.

* * *

**Berk Monster Academy**

"Alright, gang, now!" yelled Hiccup.

There was a trembling sound as Twinhorn's furious footsteps thudded closer and closer toward the academy. Ruff and Tuff were flying overhead on Queen and King, blowing streams of fire as they chased the Diablos toward the arena gate.

"This is so awesome!" cheered Tuffnut.

"We gotta herd Diablos more often!" agreed Ruffnut.

Twinhorn roared at the sight of the people standing in front of the cage and rushed toward them, her horns pointed straight at them. Everyone leapt aside, and the wyvern charged ahead and right into her cage. A tremendous crash echoed across the academy and beyond as Twinhorn slammed into the wall and knocked herself out.

Hiccup and Gobber pulled on the lever, and the new iron-coated gates closed with a strange noise, like a combination of creaking wood and squeaking metal. With another pull of the lever, the cage locked with an equally loud click.

"Pleasure ta be of assistance again, Hiccup!" Gobber said happily. "Yeh'll be glad ta know that I ain't quittin' me job just yet."

"I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that," Hiccup replied with just enough sarcasm to get the blacksmith to laugh.

"And if you had listened to me just a few days ago," sighed Batwings, "this would have been _much_ easier. Hunters or no hunters, Berk still needs a blacksmith."

"You're the best smith, Gobber!" chirped Arachne.

Blushing from all the praise he was getting, Gobber began to hobble out of the arena. "Now if yeh'll excuse me," he called back, "I got me some more smithin' ta do! See ya around, kids!"

Hiccup and his friends watched him go, all with smiles on their faces as they heard the blacksmith begin to sing. The song was a familiar one, and it went something like this:

"_I've got me axe and I've got me mace,_

_And I love me wife with the ugly face,_

_I'm a Viking through and through!_"

* * *

_When the world around you changes, the good men find a way to change with it. And Gobber is one of those good men._

_In fact, he's one of the best._

* * *

**Yep, I'm going to end the episode there. How'd you like my inclusion of some Monster Hunter-related plotlines? We'll figure out the cause for Twinhorn's sudden madness in a later chapter.**

**For now, though, Gobber is resuming his work and enjoying it like never before. He isn't a dentist like in Riders of Berk yet – that will most likely come later.**

**Review please, and I'll see you again soon!**

**Up next: Animal House**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Animal House Part 1**_

* * *

_Here on Berk, we've made peace with the monsters. We're finally living and working together – and it only took us three hundred years._

_There's one slight problem…_

_We forgot to tell the animals._

* * *

**Farming Lands**

It was another sunny afternoon on Berk, and the day's events were playing out to be pretty normal.

Unfortunately, 'normal' took on a whole new meaning whenever Berk was concerned. Especially when the island's new monster residents were involved.

Mulch and Bucket were working in the farming lands as usual, and Batwings, with nothing better to do, was watching them go about their business. So far, nothing particularly out of the ordinary had happened – unless the Siren counted the Hypnocatrice and Barioth angrily fighting each other in a sheep pen, of all places.

"Oh no, not again," huffed Mulch. "You go on now… you get… get, both of you!"

The portly Viking raced toward the sheep pen, where the sheep were running over and into each other in an attempt to get away from the brawling monsters. With him and Bucket waving their arms and shouting, they managed to chase the monsters away a far enough distance to no longer be a concern.

"We never had this problem with the dragons…" Mulch grumbled as he went to fetch a medium-sized pail. "Alright, everyone, time to earn yer keep!" he added cheerfully to the barnyard animals.

While Mulch settled down beside a yak to milk it, Bucket busied himself with checking the chicken coop for eggs. Even from a distance, the observant eyes of Batwings could see his bewildered expression as he lifted up a chicken and saw nothing in the nest beneath.

"Chickens lay eggs, right?" the clueless Viking asked, well, cluelessly.

"Do we _really_ need to go over this again?" sighed Mulch wearily.

"No," replied Bucket. But a second later, he lifted up the sheep next to him and looked underneath it.

"Apparently we do," Batwings concluded. Two flaps of his wings later, he came in for a landing beside Bucket and began to explain.

"Wool," the Siren said, pointing to the sheep pen.

"Eggs," he continued, pointing to the chicken coop.

"And milk," he finished, pointing to Mulch's yak. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Bucket cocked his head, still confused.

"Observe," directed Batwings, and gestured to Mulch.

Picking up the cue, Mulch turned back to the yak. "Now, Bucket," he explained. "You grab the udder, like so, and pull."

He pulled the yak's udder – but nothing came out.

"Pull," Mulch said again.

When the same result happened, he repeated with more force, "Pull!"

But he pulled so hard, the yak kicked him off of his stool and walked away to join the other yaks.

"Uh oh," Batwings remarked. "I think we're empty. Again."

A look of realization crossed Mulch's face. "And that's not good," he murmured.

* * *

**Berk Mountain**

"So," Astrid spoke up, "just why are we here freezing our butts off again?"

The two of them were with their respective monsters on the top of the highest mountain on Berk, up to their knees in snow. While it admittedly gave them a very charming view of the island, the temperature left something to be desired. To put it plainly, it was cold, even when compared to Berk's regular climate.

"Well," Hiccup explained, "we're here looking for anything that looks out of the ordinary. You saw how Twinhorn went completely berserk the other night, and how different her scales looked. Something is causing her to go crazy, and I'm willing to bet that it's some change in Berk's environment."

"Monsters _are_ better at sensing changes in the natural world than people are," agreed Astrid.

Hiccup nodded. "Exactly. And what better place to start than the highest mountain on the island? Whatever it is we're looking for, we'll find it from up here."

Smirking, Astrid replied snidely, "Well, unless you have the eyes of a Berukyurosu, it'll be impossible to see anything going on down below."

Putting an equal amount of sarcasm into his voice, Hiccup responded, "If there's one thing I _do _see, it's that you aren't happy here and just want to be back at the bottom of the mountain, where it's ever so slightly warmer."

"I bet I could get down there faster than you could, Monster Boy," Astrid challenged him with a teasing note in her voice.

"Sadly, I disagree with you, my lady," the Haddock boy joked. "Why don't we find out just who has the faster monster once and for all?"

"Thought you'd never ask," the Hofferson girl said with a grin, already running back toward Blackhawk.

And that was how the two of them found themselves in a monster sledding race, with the imaginary finish line at the bottom of the mountain. They were both sitting on Blackhawk's and Sightless' backs while the monsters slid across the snow on their bellies. With their wings flared out like huge sails that caught the wind, they hit absolutely exhilarating speeds as they raced down the slopes. The experience was even better than flying in its own way.

At first, Sightless and Hiccup were in the lead, the soft snow gently whisking against the Gore Magala's belly as he shot down the mountain like a black arrow.

Then, Blackhawk cut ahead, and Hiccup could clearly hear Astrid's triumphant laugh carrying back to hit his ears. Smiling to himself, he followed her every move even as they began to race through a widespread forest of evergreens. The two monsters twisted and turned around every tree, Sightless hot on Blackhawk's heels.

But just then, the Yian Garuga raised her tail and sent a load of poisonous spines whistling backwards. Sightless immediately hastened to avoid them, and he lost a bit of ground in order to execute the maneuver.

"Hey, Astrid!" cried Hiccup indigantly.

"Oops, did I do that?" she called back innocently.

_Two can play at that game,_ Hiccup thought. He urged Sightless forward, and they put on a burst of speed that was enough to overtake Blackhawk and Astrid. He flared out one of his cape-like wings, blocking Astrid's view and stopping Blackhawk from progressing any further.

"Not fair!" Astrid objected, trying to swerve her wyvern around Sightless' wing.

A stunted tree suddenly came into Hiccup's view, and he abruptly steered Sightless around it. Astrid only saw it at the last second, and she and Blackhawk crashed into it – they kept going, but the Hofferson girl ended up with a face-ful of snow and a long scratch across her cheek.

"So it's going to be like that, huh?!" she yelled at Hiccup, half-scowling and half-grinning.

"I have _no_ idea what you're talking about," he replied calmly, and Sightless put on another burst of speed.

Blackhawk, at her rider's urging, suddenly spat a fireball at a large snowbank off to the side. The snow exploded everywhere, and Sightless became startled and lost control. He spun like a top, and only just regained his footing and continued sliding down the mountain after Astrid and her monster shot ahead.

But then, there was a muffled *boom*, and then a great rumbling sound from farther uphill. Hiccup twisted his head around and immediately saw what looked like a wall of snow roaring down the mountain after them. It seemed as if Blackhawk's earlier fireball had started an avalanche.

"Oh no," Hiccup murmured. He made up his mind immediately, deciding that it was time to get off the mountain.

"Up, Sightless!" he commanded, and the Gore Magala was eager to oblige. He jumped mid-slide with his powerful legs, ready for takeoff – but he suddenly plunged back into the snow, losing a little bit of speed before resuming his slide. They tried several more times, all with the same fruitless result, before Hiccup glanced at Sightless' injured wing and immediately saw that the splint had frozen over. It was stuck in one position, preventing them from flying.

Helpless at the moment, Hiccup figured that the least he could do was keep sliding and warn Astrid. He and Sightless promptly increased their speed, and they rapidly closed in on the girl and her Yian Garuga while dodging the trees in their path.

"Astrid!" screamed Hiccup, over the noise of the avalanche.

She glanced back at the sound of his voice, and her eyes widened in fear as she saw what looked like the entire mountainside rumbling down towards them. Urging Blackhawk towards a natural ramp that had appeared in their path, Astrid soared upwards and away from the mountain before circling back to help Hiccup.

They swooped down upon Hiccup as he was reaching for Sightless' outstretched wing, trying to pry the splint's joints free. He looked up and saw them coming to help.

"No, go back!" he cried.

Clearly in no mood to listen, Astrid instead replied, "I can see a cliff up ahead! I need to get you out of there!"

Hiccup was between a wall of snow and what could quite literally be a dead end. And even if Astrid could save him in time, how would they get Sightless away as well? Without anyone to fly him, and indeed without his splint working properly, there was no way the Gore Magala would be able to save himself.

_One thing at a time,_ Hiccup decided. He reached for Astrid's hand, which she stretched out towards him in a desperate attempt to save him, and managed to grab it firmly.

But even though Astrid used all of her strength trying to pull him up onto Blackhawk's back, they ran out of time. The cliff loomed before them, and before Hiccup could let go of Astrid's hand, all four of them went over with terrified screams. They were heading for the bottom of an icy ravine, and several tons of snow spilled over the cliff after them.

They hit the bottom of the icy ravine very hard, but miraculously, they didn't break anything. However, the shock and pain rendered them temporarily unconscious – when Hiccup woke up about a minute later, everything was pitch black and he was freezing cold.

"A-Astrid?" he asked shakily. He might have gotten an answer, but his mind was so scattered that he couldn't comprehend it. He asked again, in a slightly stronger voice, "Astrid?"

This time, he could hear her reply. She rasped, "Hiccup, I'm freezing…"

By some miracle, they managed to find each other in the dark. Hiccup's hand was groping around in the blackness when his fingers closed around something warm and alive – Astrid's arm. Immediately, they moved together and clung to each other tightly, desperate for warmth, instinctively relaxing as their arms wrapped around one another.

But…

"Where are the monsters?" Astrid asked, her voice coming from right next to Hiccup's ear.

Hiccup didn't know how to reply, but as it turned out, he didn't have to – there was a flash of blinding light, accompanied by a brief burst of heat, which vanished too quickly for his eyes to adjust. But he could guess from whom it had come from.

"Blackhawk?" he asked, incredulously.

Then a much dimmer, blue-black burst of light occurred, which was appropriately accompanied by a burst of heat that was much cooler in comparison to the first.

"Sightless?" added Astrid, just as surprised.

There were two more flashes of alternating white and black light, and then a dim ray of sunlight illuminated the ravine. When Hiccup's eyes adjusted, he saw that they were inside a dome of snow, with their monsters staring down at them almost tenderly. He could now see that they had spread their wings as a shield to block the avalanche from crushing them, and that they had burnt a hole in the snow with their flames to allow the distant sun to shine through.

"We're going to be alright," Astrid breathed.

"Look at what they did," Hiccup replied, his own voice mirroring his astonishment. "They saved our lives!"

He and Astrid simultaneously turned their heads to look at each other, and they immediately saw how close they were. They didn't pull away, but drew a little closer as if that would make them a little warmer. And it did, but in a different way.

"I never thought I'd be so glad to be alive," murmured Astrid.

Hiccup simply smiled, and nothing more.

And then, perhaps because it was just the heat of the moment, their lips met.

It took several seconds for the two of them to break the kiss apart, as if reluctant to leave each other's warmth.

However, Sightless and Blackhawk's amused stares convinced them. Frantically, they each slid away from the other, blushing furiously and determinedly looking at the ground.

"So… so we're good now," said Hiccup, coughing awkwardly.

"G-Good as new!" confirmed Astrid, just as uncomfortable. Then she gave him a playful punch on the shoulder, trying to make the situation a little more normal.

It hurt, causing Hiccup to wince and rub his arm – but after the tender moment they had just shared, he couldn't have cared any less.

* * *

**Back at the Farming Lands**

Upon discovering that not just one, but none, of the yaks were refusing to give milk, Batwings had flown straight to the docks, where Stoick and Gobber were overseeing the fishermen's haul. It had only taken him a little time to bring the two Vikings back to Mulch and Bucket, who had waited in the farming lands.

"Yep. Mm-hm. Yeah, there it is!" Gobber said, keeping up the talk as he examined one of the yaks from underneath. Mulch, Bucket, Stoick, and Batwings were all watching him anxiously.

Finally, the blacksmith slid out from under the yak and said, "Jus' as I thought. She ain't givin' milk. None of 'em are!"

Stoick and Batwings simultaneously rolled their eyes. "We _know_ that, Gobber," the Chief said impatiently.

"We want to know _why_," Batwings added.

"This reminds me o' the time I moved me mother in with me goat," Gobber started, launching into one of his stories. Stoick moved to intervene, but Batwings stopped him with a restraining hand.

"Let Gobber tell his tale," the Siren cautioned, looking the Chief in the eye. "He might be on to something. Just let him get to his point."

Taking a moment to think first, Stoick eventually nodded. He turned back to Gobber, who kept talking as if they weren't even there – "… she was mean, ornery, ate everythin' in sight…"

"Your goat?" interrupted Batwings.

Not even hearing the question, Gobber continued, "The goat was so scared of 'er, she couldn't give milk!"

Batwings rolled his eyes and huffed. Sometimes he wondered why these Vikings – with their mean mothers, ugly wives, and shaggy beards – couldn't be more like the Peaceables back on Siren Island.

At last, Gobber got to his point. "The moral o' the story is, mothers an' goats don't mix," he explained. "Same with farm animals an' monsters! The dragons ain't no problem, 'cause they've been around since our ancestors first sailed here."

To prove his point, he gestured to a flock of Grapple Grounders that were flying overhead. The farm animals, indeed, didn't take any notice.

"Now," Gobber prattled on, "We stopped fightin' the monsters just recently, and now they're around _all the time_! The farm animals are gettin' spooked."

Almost the second he finished explaining, a Rathian soared over the farm with a roar that echoed across the peaks. Farm animals scattered in its wake, and a herd of sheep simply dropped to the ground. Whether they were playing dead, or just so frightened that they had fainted, wasn't clear.

"See?" added Gobber. "Spooked."

Batwings was about to ask a question when he was interrupted by a muffled groan. The two Vikings and the Siren turned around to see Bucket clasping his head in his hand and stumbling around, as if he had a killer headache.

Mulch was examining his comrade concernedly. "Uh oh," he said. "Yer bucket's not tightenin' up on you, is it?"

Bucket stopped groaning long enough to say, "No, no it's not. I'm feeling just… FIIIIINE!" He suddenly screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his head tightly.

"When his bucket gets tight, it means a storm's comin'," Mulch explained to the others, seeing their curious looks.

"No storm," Bucket rasped, "everything's fine."

"Bucket…" warned Mulch.

The half-brainless Viking turned to him and worried, "I don't want there to be a storm! If lightning strikes me bucket, I could end up less intelligent!" He suddenly let out a searing howl of pain, causing Batwings to flinch.

"Oh ho, that's one tight bucket!" exclaimed Mulch, rapping Bucket on the head. "The tighter the bucket, the bigger the storm!"

Understandably, Stoick and Gobber were more skeptical than concerned, unlike Batwings.

"That's ridiculous," said Stoick. "Storms don't hit this early in the season."

"An' besides," Gobber scoffed, "who ever heard of predictin' the weather with a bucket? That's what chicken bones an' goose feet are for!"

Mulch was indignant, and leapt to his ailing friend's (and his ailing friends' dignity's) defense. He said dangerously, "If you recall, that bucket o' his predicted the Blizzard of Oloth!"

"That was a bad one," Bucket put in. "It took us a week just to dig Mildew out!"

"And I'm still wondering why you ever bothered," Batwings drawled sarcastically.

With a worried look in his eyes, Mulch insisted, "Trust the bucket!"

But Stoick just shook his head and replied, "You trust the bucket. I want a second opinion."

And that was how Batwings, Gobber, and Stoick found themselves on a lone mountain that rose out from the ocean just off of the village's coastline. It had been a long walk by bridge to reach the hut of the elder, Goathi. The peak was so small that the dwelling took up all the available space, and then some.

Goathi was perhaps the oldest and most respected Viking in the village, except perhaps Mildew – even though Mildew was a bit lacking in the 'respect' part. Although Goathi was far past her prime and no longer able to go into battle, no one was better than her at healing wounds, treating the sick, and in this case, predicting the weather.

"We've come for your wisdom, Goathi," Stoick respectfully told the ancient woman. "Is there going to be a storm?"

The elder slowly retrieved her staff and began to write on her dirt-board with the end of it. Batwings peered at the confusing symbols and pictures that she was drawing, and gave up after a few moments. He wasn't able to make any sense out of her scribbles.

"Gobber, what's she saying?" the dragon asked.

Bending down to examine Goathi's work, Gobber slowly read, "She says, 'What do you think?'"

The three visitors shrugged.

Goathi sighed and pointed her staff at the hut behind them. The windows were securely barricaded and there were sandbags all over the place, as if Goathi was expecting a storm as well and had prepared well for it.

"How can you be so sure?" inquired Stoick. "Was it the chicken bones? Or the goose feet?"

Goathi wrote another few odd pictures in the dirt, and Gobber closely examined it. "Ah-hah, ah-hah… yep. She said she could hear Bucket screaming from way up here."

Batwings' eyebrows shot upwards, and he and Stoick shared a surprised glance.

"Then we need to prepare," the Chief decided. "Gobber, meet me at my house, and send word to Mulch and Bucket also. Batwings, I need you to go tell Hiccup that there is something very important I have to tell him."

"It involves the monsters, doesn't it?" the Siren asked.

"Yes it does," replied Stoick, nodding. "Without milk or eggs, we won't be able to survive the storm. We're still recovering from when our storehouse was… ah, raided."

Batwings winced noticeably. He still felt a little bit guilty about the wild behavior of the monsters and his dragon brethren not too long ago, before Hiccup had figured out how to control them.

"You can count on me, Chief," he replied, then leapt off the peak.

Wings catching the wind and pushing him upwards, Batwings shapeshifted into his true draconic form – a repulsive eel creature with wide wings, a streamer-like head crest, and wickedly long fangs. All Sirens could shift between their true form and their humanoid form, as it was one of the many talents they had in order to catch their prey. But Batwings only shifted into his true form when he needed to, and right now, he needed to find Hiccup as quickly as possible.

* * *

**Village Plaza**

Near the bustling plaza, there was a tall catapult tower, and it was on this catapult tower that the Berk Monster Riders tended to congregate when they had nothing better to do. Even though they did have the Berk Dragon Academy all to themselves, they felt like this place was a little more private, and thus felt a sense of comfort whenever they came here.

Today, everyone except Batwings and the twins were there. Hiccup and Astrid had just come back from their little excursion into the mountains, full of excitement and with an amazing tale to tell the others.

"… and then, the monsters used their wings to block the snow," Hiccup finished excitedly.

Fishlegs was fascinated – well, more like jumping out of his pants. Speaking rapidly, he piped up, "I've never heard of anything like that, not even in the Book of Monsters!"

"Well duh," Snaketail chastised him. "Haven't we been fighting the monsters until two months or so ago?"

"I know, it's incredible!" blurted Astrid. "It's as if their protective instincts just kicked in! If it weren't for them, we would have _frozen_ to death!"

"The monsters we've been fighting for hundreds of years came to our rescue," Hiccup added, still amazed.

"You know, you could have used your _own_ bodies to keep each other warm," babbled Fishlegs, not losing any of his enthusiasm.

Hiccup and Astrid instinctively glanced at each other, then shuffled away from each other, blushing crimson. Arachne gave them a quick study and grinned widely – it was obvious to _her_ just what had happened after her friends had been rescued.

"Wh-Who does that?" asked Astrid innocently, and Hiccup rapidly nodded his agreement.

"Hey Astrid," said Snotlout. "If you're still cold…"

Dropping the sentence, the Jorgenson held out his arms invitingly – only to receive a huge pile of snow that fell down from the catapult above them and buried him from head to toe, courtesy of a scowling Astrid.

"Hey!" he protested, hilariously muffled. Astrid, meanwhile, allowed a satisfied smile to cross her face.

"Hiccup."

The nonchalant voice rang out from below the tower, prompting Hiccup himself to look over the edge. He immediately saw the twins staring up at him.

"Batwings sent us," Tuffnut said bluntly. "Your father's looking for you."

"He looked angry," smirked Ruffnut.

"Oh, he's looked like that since they day I was born," muttered Hiccup. "It's probably no big deal."

Bidding the others farewell, he hopped off the platform and began to walk down the tower, heading for his house and the message his dad had to give him.

* * *

**Hiccup's House**

The Haddock boy opened the door to find Sightless napping by the fire where he had left him – as well as a pacing Stoick, a stationary Gobber, and a fully-transformed Batwings coiled around his usual spot in the rafters.

"What's all this about, Dad?" asked Hiccup, closing the door behind him and walking closer to the fire pit. He still felt cold after the avalanche.

"We've got a bad storm coming," Stoick replied, his voice growing, while not nervous, something similar to it. "We could be locked in. We might not be able to hunt or fish for months."

"It's too early for a storm," Hiccup said, with a skeptical chuckle. "We're in the middle of winter! _Devastating_ winter isn't due for another month."

"Not according to Goathi," his father responded, denying his denial.

"What should _I _do about it?" protested Hiccup. "I can't control the weather."

"Not that we know of," Gobber piped up, "but yeh _can_ control monsters."

Confused, Hiccup asked worriedly, "You mean there's a monster out there that's causing a storm?" He certainly hoped not – only elder dragons and the most powerful flying wyverns had abilities great enough to control weather, and he really didn't want to deal with a Kushala Daora or something even worse.

Stoick shook his head. "Not quite, but if the other monsters don't stop scaring the animals, we won't have any provisions to live on."

With a sardonic grin, Hiccup said sarcastically, "Well, between you and me, the village could do with a little _less_ feeding. Know what you think?"

"This isn't a joke, Hiccup," Gobber replied.

Just at that moment, the door opened, and Bucket and Mulch walked in. Hiccup had heard stories about the former's weather-predicting bucket, and to be honest, he thought the stories were hard to believe. But if Goathi was placing her trust in them…

"Not a drop," Mulch said sadly, holding up an empty pail. "And that was after yankin' on that poor yak for three hours."

Hiccup's eyes widened slightly. _This is serious,_ he thought.

"But it's not like the monsters are trying to be scary," Batwings said all of a sudden, shifting into his humanoid form so he'd be able to talk to us more clearly. "I mean, sure, the smaller carnivores eat livestock… but the rest only eat other monsters, like Aptonoth. And they do most of their hunting in the woods."

"True," admitted Gobber. "But still, they are huge, some of 'em breathe fire, most of 'em have bad tempers, and all of 'em – now that we've made peace with 'em – are _everywhere_. The animals are terrified of 'em!"

"This is where you come in and say 'I'll fix this'," Stoick told his son, seriously.

It took a bit of time for Hiccup to find his voice after absorbing all this new information. "Okay," he said hesitantly, "but how much time do we have until the storm hits?"

Mulch stepped in and told him, "About a week."

Relieved, Hiccup sighed, "No problem. That's more than enough time."

But then, Bucket clutched his head – with his hook clanging loudly against his bucket – and let out a long moan.

"Ah, correction," Mulch amended. "Three days, six hours."

Hiccup swallowed thickly. "Alright, less time. Perfect."

The Chief-to-be walked over to the fire and gently patted Sightless on the head, waking him up. "Come on, bud," he said. "We have a job to do."

Nodding, the Gore Magala followed his rider out of the house, and was in turn followed by Batwings. Closing the door behind them, the three of them flew off for the Berk Monster Academy with a special assignment for that day's lesson.

* * *

**Berk Monster Academy, Three Days Later**

The Berk Monster Riders were all assembled, although some of their monsters were absent. Batwings and Arachne had also gathered some special guests – three yaks, five sheep, and a flock of chickens. The farm animals would be the center of Hiccup's lesson, and the fate of the village depended on how well they could do their job.

Unfortunately, they hadn't had any luck so far.

Hiccup's original idea would be to gather some smaller monsters and then work their way up toward the larger and more frightening ones – which Batwings rapidly convinced him not to do, considering that a lot of smaller monsters were still large enough to eat livestock. Hiccup had no choice but to ask Snaketail to round up the first monsters she laid eyes on.

Unfortunately, she had come back with a Duramboros, a Tigrex, and a Blundertail – which wasn't a monster, but a Boulder class, scorpion-like, heavily-built dragon with wings like a Gronckle's, even larger than the infamously-monstrous Monstrous Nightmare. Frightening enough to be a monster itself, in Hiccup's opinion.

"Come on, big boy. You can do it!" grunted Hiccup as he herded a yak toward one of the monsters. "You'll really like them if you get to know them."

The yak wasn't convinced, and continued to struggle as Hiccup fruitlessly continued to push it forward.

"What's the point of this exercise again?" asked Tuffnut, clueless as usual.

"To make the animals stop being so afraid of the monsters," Snaketail told him, wearily.

"Oh yeah," Tuff replied.

"We totally knew that," Ruffnut added.

Astrid joined Hiccup in herding the yaks toward the monsters, and together, they began to actually get somewhere. "They look scary," Astrid told them encouragingly, "but they're just giant, scaly reptiles."

"Just like Snotlout," snickered Tuff.

The boy in question picked up the male Thorston and held his fist up, prepared to hit him. But then, he faltered and glanced down at his chest in confusion. He asked uncertainly, "You're the guy, right?"

"No," Tuff replied squeakily.

Meanwhile, the Duramboros and Tigrex were fighting over personal space. When the big brute wyvern slammed its hammer-like tail down on the ground and growled, the yaks suddenly knocked Hiccup and Astrid over and run to the other side of the academy.

"What if we looked at this from an animal's perspective?" suggested Fishlegs. He subsequently got down on all fours and began to shuffle around in circles. "Oh hello, Tigrex. I'm just a little sheep, walking around, doing sheep things. Baa, baa…"

On the sidelines, the real sheep were looking at him skeptically, and Sightless let out his version of a laugh, a short sound that was somewhere between a growl and a scream.

"You know," remarked Fishlegs, "they don't really seem so big –"

But when he looked up, and the Tigrex roared in his face, he screamed and scuttled off to cower under Heatray. "I'm siding with the animals on this one," he squeaked.

Hiccup stepped into the Ingerman's place to share his thoughts. "I've noticed that when you have a positive experience with something you're afraid of, it isn't so scary anymore," he explained, and began urging the sheep toward the monsters. "They just have to get to know them, and –"

And then his plan literally went up in flames as the Blundertail shot a sizzling missile of poisonous fire over the heads of the sheep, startling them into running all over the arena with panicked bleats.

"At this rate, we'll never get any milk or eggs!" growled Hiccup as Ruffnut rushed to calm the sheep down.

_This is pointless,_ he thought, frustrated.

Snaketail suddenly snapped her fingers, appearing to have an idea. "Another way to help the animals overcome their fear is to show them that monsters have fears too," she said decisively.

Hiccup couldn't help but be grateful that someone other than him and Fishlegs were coming up with some good ideas.

"Remember Madguts the Merciless?" asked Astrid.

Fishlegs, Snaketail, and Arachne all shuddered upon hearing the name.

"I think so," Batwings said, gagging. "He didn't go down so well."

Astrid, alongside the others, gave him a weird look. When he just shrugged and quickly flashed his fangs – as if to say _I'm a Siren, deal with it_ – she turned the conversation back to her original statement.

"He was a pretty scary guy," she continued. "I was afraid of him until I learned that he, in turn, was afraid of the dark."

"So during the day, merciless," said Tuff.

"And during the night, Tuffnut," his sister chirped.

"Hey, that's a real problem!" he protested, slugging her on the arm. Ruff just scowled at him.

Glaring at the two of them, Astrid continued, "I'm just saying that learning that Madguts was afraid of something made him less scary to me."

Hiccup considered Astrid's idea and decided it to be worth a try. He walked to the back of the academy toward one of the old cages. Most of them were vacant now, except for Twinhorn's – occasionally, she'd bellow and slam into the door as if trying to break out, which she had been doing ever since Gobber had locked her in. Thankfully, the metal reinforcements stopped her from smashing her way through the wooden obstruction. However, her repeated attempts to escape were loud enough to sometimes startle the animals, which was extremely unwelcome in such a delicate operation.

"Exactly," called Hiccup, opening one of the cage doors and digging around inside for a moment. "So, we just have to show the animals that monsters also have fear."

He walked out from the cage with a slimy eel in his hand, which had been kept alive inside a water-tight basket. It was thrashing around in protest at being handled, but Hiccup held it just behind its head so it couldn't bite.

At the sight of the eel, the Duramboros and Tigrex recoiled and bellowed in revulsion. It was a well-known fact amongst Hiccup and the Monster Riders that not only dragons, but most monsters were disgusted by eels. Even monsters that lived in the sea avoided them.

While the monsters backed away from the squirming serpent, the animals exchanged glances. None of them looked particularly frightened of the monsters any more.

"I think it's working," sang Arachne.

But then Hiccup dropped the eel. In its effort to find water so it could breathe, the eel slithered rapidly toward the Blundertail, which panicked and lashed its tail in an effort to chase it away. The tail smacked a stray sheep, sending it flying clear across the arena and into the far wall.

Hiccup groaned, clutching his head as he felt a headache coming on.

"Don't worry," Astrid said gently.

"Worried?" replied Hiccup. "I'm not worried! Do I look worried?"

But obviously, it was clear that he was rapidly running out of confidence. At this rate, the storm would hit before they made any progress with the animals – and if that happened, the entire village would starve.

* * *

**That's right, I kept the little romantic moment from the original "Legends are Born". I mean, come on – how could I **_**not**_** keep it? (Admittedly, I toned it down a wee bit.)**

**This is also the first appearance of one of my own original dragons – the Blundertail! I'm going to try and fit in a few more creatures throughout the story as well.**

"**Madguts the Merciless" is my own quick little reference to the HTTYD book series, by the way.**

**Please send a review my way! I know crossovers aren't very popular on this site, but please make me feel that someone is actually reading this.**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Animal House Part 2**_

* * *

**Village Plaza**

The wind howled, and there was the occasional rumble of distant thunder in the ominously shadowed sky, accompanied by a brief flash of lightning from within the clouds. No one was out and about – the villagers were all heading to the Great Hall so that they could wait out the storm. There were no monsters or dragons in sight, either, since the beasts had booked it out of the village as soon as they felt the storm coming.

"Just as I feared," Stoick said grimly. He picked up a plank of wood and offered it to Gobber, who had joined him on their last round of the village. "We haven't had any time to fully stock the food storehouse. If this storm is as bad as we think it is, we're never going to survive."

"Not with this inventory," Gobber agreed, taking the wooden plank and using it to block the doors to one of the houses.

"We're going to need everything we can get from those chickens and yaks," added Stoick.

His comment prompted a snort from Gobber. "I'm not comfortable in puttin' our lives on the backs of a brainless bird an' a big woolly beast that sleeps in its own dung."

"Thankfully," Stoick said, cutting him off, "our fate isn't on their backs. It's on my son's."

The two of them completed their round of the village and decided that it would be safe to abandon it until the storm had run its course. Up the steps leading toward the Great Hall they went, where the last few Vikings were wheeling in provisions.

"Bring in everything you need!" hollered Stoick. "We don't know how long we're going to be hunkered down!"

With effort, he and Gobber began to help some of the stragglers push their wheelbarrows full of supplies up the stone steps and through the immense doors awaiting them. The last two Vikings to come were Mulch and Bucket – the former was tugging the latter up to the Great Hall in his own wheelbarrow. Bucket had his hands clamped to his head and was moaning lowly, clearly in great pain.

"How's Bucket?" Stoick asked of Mulch, gently.

"Look at 'im," the portly Viking sighed. "He usually loves a wheelbarrow ride."

All of a sudden, there was a rush of wind and a clattering sound as Batwings landed on his talons on the grassy hill near the staircase. Shivering, the Siren jumped up onto the side of the staircase and regarded the quartet of Vikings with worry.

"We're out of time," he reported. "We haven't had any success with the animals yet. I came here to ask what our next course of action should be."

Sadly, Stoick shook his head and replied, "For now, we'll have to wait. There's no way we'll be able to help them now. Gobber," he added, "you go with Mulch and gather the kids. Bring them back here and make sure that they're all safe. Batwings, you prepare to get the farm animals in the barn."

Mulch and Gobber both nodded understandingly. They both hobbled down the steps on their peg legs, with Batwings soaring ahead of them before wheeling off in a slightly different direction. It was to the farming lands he flew, while Gobber and Mulch walked off in the general direction of the Berk Monster Academy.

Suddenly, Spitelout appeared, herding two yaks toward the Great Hall. "I caught these two," he informed the other Vikings. "I figured we could start another herd with 'em."

"Yeh might wanna take another look, Spitelout," replied Gobber, walking by without even a glance.

Spitelout bent down and peered underneath the yaks, then stood up and said quickly, "Never mind, boys."

* * *

**Berk Monster Academy**

Back in the arena, it was chaos once again. The Duramboros had succeeded in scaring the flock of chickens. Hiccup had managed to catch two chickens, and Snotlout and Fishlegs had caught a few others, but the other Monster Riders were still trying to round up the rest of the birds while Astrid calmed the monsters down.

"You know what I'm learning from this?" complained Hiccup. "Chickens are, well, chicken."

Astrid snorted at his remark and tossed a steak to the Tigrex in order to get it to settle down. Its restless stomping and growling was making the sheep and yaks nervous.

"What if we showed them how much they have in common with the monsters?" asked Tuffnut all of a sudden.

Everyone stared at him, skeptical at his suggestion.

"What?" the male Thorston added, starting to doubt himself. "I always thought the Duramboros looked like a giant sheep."

"Actually, he might be on to something," mused Fishlegs. "It does share some of the same habits as sheep – grazing, using its horns in territorial fights…"

Arachne scuttled past him and led the gentle giant over to the sheep. Although the sheep were initially startled at the lumbering brute wyvern that stomped in their direction and tried to run away, Sightless blocked their escape and herded them forward with his wings. Reluctantly, the sheep faced the Duramboros, and began to calm down as they observed it chewing a large wad of grass, twigs, and cabbage in its mouth.

"See?" asked Hiccup, satisfied. "A plant-eater's a plant-eater, no matter how big and tough he is. Right, guys?"

Then the Tigrex, eager for more steak, lunged at the satchel Astrid had on her shoulder from which she had produced the meat. She hastily dove out of the way, and the Tigrex's jaws closed around the Duramboros' leg. The brute wyvern let out an earsplitting, bleating bellow of pain and swung its clubbed tail around like a mace, crashing it loudly against the floor and walls several times. The sheep panicked and scattered, too fast and in too many directions for Sightless to stop them again.

"Unless it has a Hammer for a tail," Hiccup finished bitterly.

The frantic bleating of the sheep made such a racket, the other animals took it as a signal to panic as well. Chickens, yaks, and sheep raced all around the arena in a frenzy of fear, while the Viking teens did their best to try and gather them again.

However, they had only just started to get the animals back under control when there was a gigantic crashing noise from behind Twinhorn's cage. This time, the door shifted significantly upon being hit.

"Wh-What's going on?!" squeaked Fishlegs, hiding behind Heatray.

The answer he got was another, much bigger crash – the sound of the door flying off of its hinges. The two halves hadn't even hit the ground yet when Twinhorn came barreling out, roaring madly at the top of her lungs. Everyone scrambled to get out of the way of the crazed Diablos, but the animals panicked again, dissolving into a chaos worse than any so far.

"T-Twinhorn!" cried Snaketail, her voice breaking.

"She's even worse than last time this happened," gasped Snotlout, crawling underneath Heatray's belly with Fishlegs.

"Guys, wait," Hiccup told them, pointing at Twinhorn as she crashed into the wall and stunned herself. "Look at her scales! They're pitch-black!"

Indeed, when the group took another look at Snaketail's monster companion, they could see the difference. Instead of having dirt-brown scales, they were deepest black with a subtle purple tint.

Hiccup couldn't help but wonder if her increased aggression and her new black coat were related somehow.

When Gobber and Mulch walked in, the noise of the gate opening alerted Twinhorn. With a huge bellow, she lunged forward at the startled Vikings, bowling them over as she rampaged out the door. And almost as if on cue, a harsh wind began to blow, and snow started falling from the cloud-covered sky.

"Everybody out!" shouted Mulch. "The storm's here!"

"An' what in Odin's name happened?!" demanded Gobber. "I had that beast caged up good!"

"I-I don't know what happened to Twinhorn," replied Hiccup, shakily. "But we can't leave, Gobber! We haven't made any progress with the animals!"

Gobber scooped a stray chicken up with his hook and replied, "Yer father wants everyone in the Great Hall, where it's safe!"

"What about Twinhorn?" protested Snaketail.

"We can't risk goin' after her," Mulch told her sadly. "By the time we catch up to her and cage her again, the island'll be knee-deep in snow!"

Desperate, Hiccup was still trying to reason with them. "Take the others, then. I need to stay here and keep working with the animals. The monsters still frighten them."

"Ya can't get eggs from a frozen chicken!" replied Gobber, not hearing any of it. "We need ta get the animals in the barn!"

But everyone had just gathered up the remaining animals, with the monsters' help, when Batwings suddenly flew through the open gate, gasping for breath.

"The barn's completely frozen over!" he yelled over the sound of the wind, which was rapidly increasing in strength. "There's no way we can get the animals in it without them freezing as well! And that's not the worst part – the rest of the farm animals have fled into the mountains!"

"Oh, for the love of Thor!" shouted Snotlout.

"As if we needed any more problems," sighed Arachne.

"So much fer the barn," grumbled Gobber.

Snaketail sighed and suggested, "Then we keep the animals in the Great Hall as well. It's the only safe place we have."

"Great," grumbled Mulch. "The animals and monsters under the same roof. This will not end up good."

"We don't have a choice," Hiccup said. "I don't like it any more than you do, but if we don't starve, we'll have animals to work with in the future."

"And anyway, the only monsters here on Berk are ours," added Fishlegs. "The rest seem to have fled Berk entirely when they felt the storm coming."

Hiccup spared a glance toward Batwings, who looked like he wanted to say something else. "What is it?" Hiccup asked.

"I think there's something out there in the storm," the Siren whispered with a shudder. "I could hear it as I flew here to warn you about the animals."

"Then the animals are in danger," Astrid decided. "We'll have to head through the mountains with the animals we have with us, and hope that we come across the others on our way."

Hiccup nodded. "Alright gang, grab your monsters – we're going to use the animals' fear of them to our advantage this time."

* * *

**Berk Mountains**

On the mountain path that Hiccup and the gang took, the wind and blinding snow lashed cruelly at them until every inch of exposed skin was stinging. It was difficult to see, and the ground was thick with snow that muffled their footsteps and made it very hard to walk. The animals huddled instinctively close together to protect themselves from the biting cold, and their fear of the monsters behind them herded them forward. The monsters were staying a respectable distance behind, so as not to startle the animals.

"Come on, come on, let's go!" urged Fishlegs, herding a stray sheep back toward its fellows. The other teens were keeping the animals together, as he was, or else staying with their monsters.

But as always, something went wrong.

A forked bolt of lightning suddenly flashed down from the sky, very bright against the darkness that the storm shrouded the land in, and struck a tree with a loud crash. The tree toppled and startled Blackhawk, who screeched and instinctively lashed out with her tail, whipping Snotsnarl across the face. Enraged, he reared up on his hind legs and emitted a roar that blasted across the landscape, throwing up clouds of snow and knocking Snotlout off his feet. The animals bellowed in terror and scattered all over the place.

"Don't worry! I've got this under control," groaned Snotlout, picking himself up out of the snow.

And just how under control he had it was confirmed a second later, when the yaks trampled him. He continuously cried out, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay, everything hurts…"

Chaos reigned once more as Snotsnarl continued to run rampant, the animals ran aimlessly in fear, and the Monster Riders scrambled to retrieve them. Fishlegs rapidly became dizzy as he tried to run after a trio of sheep, and he fell to the ground just in time for the sheep to run him over. Ruffnut jumped over him in pursuit of said sheep, but a chicken jumped into her face and caused her to slam into Snaketail.

Hiccup couldn't do anything but stare miserably as the animals disappeared into the blizzard-shrouded forest. He knew that there was only one choice he had to take if he wanted to get the animals back. He took one last look at the vanishing animals, then ran for Sightless.

"Where are you goin'?" asked Gobber, incredulously.

"After them," Hiccup replied seriously.

"It's impossible! You'll never get 'em all rounded up in this storm!" cried Gobber.

"With Sightless I can," said Hiccup. "We have to try. If we don't, we'll starve to death!"

He mounted the Gore Magala, and he spread his wings and jumped into the air, immediately flying through the wind-torn sky after the escaped farm animals.

"Astrid," muttered Gobber, "would yeh talk some sense into – oh no, not you too!"

Indeed, when he turned around, the Hofferson girl, as well as Snaketail, was already sprinting toward Blackhawk. In less than a second, they were up and flying.

"Astrid! Snaketail!" yelled the blacksmith. "Yer not goin' with – oh no yeh don't!"

Everywhere Gobber turned, the monster riders were already mounting their monsters and kicking off the ground, following Hiccup and Astrid after the animals.

Gobber's bellow echoed across the peaks and into the riders' ears, prompting them all to smile. "GET BACK HERE, ALL O' YEH!"

Almost as quickly as his shouts faded into the distance, the atmosphere began to darken. The overcast sky and snow combined to create a dark purple-black lack of light that made it almost impossible to see. Astrid urged Blackhawk to spit a fireball, and the resulting projectile lit up the area around them – nothing but trees and snow.

"You guys grab as many as you can!" Hiccup called back to the others. "We'll herd them back to the Great Hall!"

"Can we sw-swing by my house?" asked Fishlegs, shivering. "I'd like to grab my heavy coat!"

"You'd better suck it up or a coat will be the least of your worries!" Snaketail told him, raising a fist menacingly.

"Hey, check this out!" shouted Tuff as he flew beside his sister. He smacked himself in the face with a loud slapping sound and added, "It's so cold I can't feel my face!"

Ruff smirked, reached out from Queen's back, and whacked him as well.

"Didn't feel it!" taunted Tuff.

"That takes all the fun out of it!" Ruff groused, scowling.

"Why don't you two keep your tiny minds on the job?" suggested Batwings, as he and Mocktalk flew in between them.

Finally, they made it to the edge of the alpine forest and flew over the same cliff that Hiccup and Astrid had tumbled over a few days ago. They found themselves flying over a vast snowfield, which was dotted with small black specks. It took a while for the Monster Riders to identify them as the rest of the lost animals.

"There they are!" shouted Arachne, already urging Venomwing downwards.

"Let's get 'em!" agreed Batwings. As Mocktalk dove, he jumped off the Qurupeco's back and immediately shapeshifted. Fully transformed, the Siren then swooped down upon the animals alongside his monster friend.

"Yaks to the left!" called Snaketail. She and Astrid then went after them.

"Chickens!" added Snotlout, blazing past them and almost clipping Blackhawk's wing. "Hey, give me some space! I'm flying here!" he scolded them.

So busy was he that he hadn't noticed that Batwings and Mocktalk were already after some turkeys, which had originally escaped from the barn. They flashed past Snotlout, herding the plump birds away from the relative safety of a grove trees they had been frantically running toward, and into the open.

"What are you doing?" the Jorgenson boy demanded, jerking Snotsnarl's horns so that he would stay on course.

"Helping, you idiot!" retorted Batwings. "Mocktalk, mucus shot!"

Obediently, the Qurupeco opened his beak and spewed three blobs of green gunk that splattered across the snow, frightening the turkeys into staying still. As the flock of chickens caught up to the bigger birds, Batwings shot downwards and coiled around the entire flock, trapping them into one tight area.

"Mocktalk, you help me keep the chickens and turkeys warm," Batwings ordered. "Snotlout, you and Snotsnarl should go after those goats over there!" He pointed with his wing over to the grove, where some goats were indeed taking shelter.

Hiccup overheard the Siren as he circled around on Sightless, and noted that it was quite odd hearing his voice coming from such monstrous jaws.

"Let's go, Sightless," he ordered, and yanked hard on the Gore Magala's saddle. They soared rapidly toward Fishlegs, who was flying on Heatray after some sheep.

"Sheep!" the Ingerman called. "Hey sheep, this way! Baa, baa! Hey, I think its working!"

But he spoke too soon – failing to see the overturned tree in his path until the sheep raced under it, he and Heatray wound up jammed underneath it as Hiccup flew onwards.

"We got them!" came Astrid's cry, and she and Blackhawk sped after the fleeing flock in a blur of black-and-purple scales. The Yian Garuga fired a volley of tail spines on her command, which fell around the sheep and created a makeshift pen for them.

"Yes!" Snaketail exclaimed triumphantly – only for her and Astrid to be thrown completely off balance when Snotsnarl plunged past them from out of nowhere and crashed into the ground, scattering the spines and letting the sheep free. The Tigrex leapt off the ground again and flew in a dazed circle off towards the goats.

"Snotlout, what the Hel are you _doing_?!" yelled Astrid furiously. "You're all over the place!"

"_You_ try herding goats with a monster that doesn't listen to you!" came his angry reply as he vanished into the blizzard.

Hiccup decided that he would go after the sheep, and urged Sightless to fly low over the flock. Each thrumming beat of the monster's cape-like wings spurred on the flock – but suddenly, a small group made a break for it, heading toward one of the mountains that rose up from the snowfield.

"Stray sheep!" he cried.

Arachne responded to his shout, and steered Venomwing over to help. The Gore Magala and Remobra rotated just enough so that their bellies skimmed each other in passing, then together they flew off toward the sheep.

However, they were too far away to help the woolly trio. They both saw the smallest one slip off the icy ledge it was clambering across and slide rapidly down the mountainside.

"No!" shrieked Arachne, her panic taking the place of action. She and Venomwing slowed down, unsure of what to do.

But Hiccup and Sightless sped up, diving down after the lamb. Just as it slid right off of a very high cliff with a terrified bleat, the Chief-to-be clicked his stirrup, changing the position of Sightless' splint and allowing them to put on a burst of speed.

The lamb was about to hit the ground when they arrived, and Sightless shot out his talons and made a fantastic catch inches away from solid earth. Hovering, he gently placed the little sheep on the ground, where it was hastily joined by the two larger sheep it was with.

"Good job, bud!" pronounced Hiccup, and they flew off while the sheep stared gratefully after them.

"Hiccup!" came the voice, and all of a sudden, Ruff and Tuff melted out of the driving snow in front of him. Their features were shrouded in shadow, and Hiccup suddenly realized how much worse the storm had gotten.

"I can't see a thing!" complained Ruffnut.

"And now we _know_ there's something out there!" added Tuffnut, pointing into the distance.

Despite his claim, Hiccup could see nothing but snow. "Can you two give us some light?" he requested.

The twins gave their order to Queen and King. The Lunastra and Teostra simultaneously launched blasts of flame from their jaws that traveled far across the snowfield, giving Hiccup light to see by. He could see Snotlout herding the goats, Astrid and Snaketail going after the yaks, Batwings curled around the poultry… and then he saw something else, something that was only revealed when the fire bursts exploded with light in the distance before vanishing.

It was a dark, winged shape that soared unopposed through the storm, almost as if it was guiding the wind and snow to blow _around_ it. The light from the fire briefly gleamed off of its metallic hide.

"Kushala Daora!" screamed Hiccup.

The legendary elder dragon emitted a hoarse screech and flew for him at top speed, hearing his voice and not liking it one bit. Like all elder dragons, the Daora was territorial and didn't like other monsters in its space when it flew. That was the reason it liked flying through storms, because there was usually no other monsters out and about.

"Watch out!" Hiccup yelled, and he and Sightless dodged the angry monster. The Daora wasn't one to give up, though, and carved a neat turn in the air for another go at them.

Then Arachne's cry somehow managed to ring out above the howling wind and roaring Daora, prompting Hiccup to momentarily take his focus away from his new adversary. Her urgent tone bore listening to.

"It was chasing some animals!" she screeched. "Look! Stray yaks, twelve o'clock!"

"We see them!" answered Tuff. "And they are _huge_!"

Without any prompting from Hiccup, who was forced to evade once more as the Kushala Daora flew past him with a shrill cry, the Thorston twins flew swiftly toward where the yaks stood. Queen and King extended their talons as they, surprisingly quickly, bore down on the animals, and successfully snagged them in their claws. Back they flew, with two hairy bundles dangling underneath them.

"We got the yaks!" crowed Ruff.

"Put us down!" the voice yelled at her in answer.

Surprised, the twins looked down and saw not yaks, but Vikings – Stoick was in King's grasp while Gobber was in Queen's. Obediently, the Lunastra and Teostra dropped them in unison, and the two men tumbled down into the snow below.

"Do I look like a yak ta you?!" Gobber yelled after them, standing on his feet and hand and shaking his hook at them. Beside him, a real yak snorted and walked carelessly away from him.

"Huh," the blacksmith mused. "I guess I do."

Hiccup tugged hard on Sightless' saddle, and they barrel-rolled away from a blast of shrieking wind and snow shot from the Daora's lungs. The blast impacted against the ground near Stoick and Gobber, throwing up a huge cloud of snow and freezing wind. When it settled, Hiccup landed and dismounted from Sightless, immediately heading toward the two adults.

"You shouldn't be out here, son!" Stoick yelled, shielding his face from the increasingly harsh wind.

"Haven't yeh noticed the big monster flyin' around this here blizzard?" added Gobber. His face and arms were red and inflamed with cold.

"Dad," Hiccup muttered shamefully, "I'm so sorry I let you down."

Shaking his head, his father replied, "It isn't your fault. Come on, we're taking you back."

"Wh-Which way?" stammered Arachne, slinking up beside Hiccup with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. The boy looked around upon her appearance, and saw that the rest of the Monster Riders were dismounting their monsters and gathering around.

"Follow our tracks," replied the Chief, pointing off into the distance.

In the short distance they could see, there was nothing but snow. No tracks in sight.

"So much fer _that_ idea!" Gobber said, skeptically.

Above, the Kushala Daora shrieked, its loudest call yet. As one, the group looked up nervously, as if anticipating the sight of it plunging down from above – but they needn't have worried, as the metallic elder dragon was just circling around in the sky, wrapped in swirling wind and frozen water.

"Sir?" asked Fishlegs, timidly. "What do we do now?"

Hiccup saw Stoick's gaze soften at the sight of the Monster Riders. They were all trembling and twitching uncontrollably, their bodies' response to the deathly cold chill that nature had unleashed upon them. Their features were barely distinguishable in the darkness, but it was clear that they were all suffering dearly.

Even Batwings was there, in his humanoid form, sniffling miserably and with his wings wrapped around his body.

_The appearance of the Daora must have frightened the chickens and turkeys away from him, _Hiccup realized.

"Everyone," said Stoick softly, holding out his arms. "Gather round."

Obligingly, everyone came together in a tight huddle, trying to keep warm. Batwings sneezed uncontrollably, spraying Snotlout with the boy's namesake bodily fluid. He didn't protest one bit, as he was too busy pretending that he didn't notice the cold. The twins kept close together, while Astrid wrapped her arms around Hiccup. He unconsciously put an arm around hers… but he knew it was futile.

Sooner or later, they would all freeze to death.

Hiccup's eyes began to close involuntarily. Frost formed in his hair as he slowly became the first to succumb to the biting, frigid cold that seemed to soak into his bones and hold them in a grip of iron. His vision faded, and his eyelids sealed…

… But suddenly, they opened again, wide with astonishment. He saw what looked like an orange blob emerge from behind the twins and Snaketail – but it couldn't be! It was Snotsnarl, advancing on them until his body blocked the cold from reaching them. He spread out his wings protectively even as Sightless, Venomwing, Heatray, and all the other monsters gathered around the huddle of Vikings.

Simultaneously, they spread their wings and formed a unified circle, keeping the wind out and their riders' body heat in. Hiccup looked around in awe, and several pairs of kind, almost nurturing gazes stared back at him.

His heart, initially as cold as the rest of him, warmed significantly as it filled with hope.

"What are they doing?" an amazed Stoick wondered.

"They're protecting us," Hiccup replied, his voice gaining in strength.

"It's their natural instinct," Astrid added. The Haddock boy felt her shivers slowly begin to fade.

A sizzling sound suddenly came from Blackhawk's beak, and the inside of her mouth suddenly glowed bright orange. A single fireball shot out from her beak and exploded against the snow, immediately flaring up and causing a small flame to flicker in the center of the huddle. Heatray hissed loudly and fired a quick blast of lava, the "heat ray" for which he had been named.

Hesitantly, Batwings added his own fire to the rapidly-growing blaze. He was being so careful for a reason – Siren flames weren't very hot in comparison to those of other dragons, but they were almost invincible and incredibly hard to douse. Batwings obviously had no intention of accidentally setting one of his friends on fire, especially if his work couldn't be undone.

All around Hiccup, his friends were relaxing as the heat from the fire traveled upwards, dispelling the cold and enveloping them with its warmth. A gap in the circle of monsters, where wind was still rushing through, was suddenly closed by the Kushala Daora. It had seen the glow of the fire, and was willing to do its part to protect the humans if it meant sharing in its heat.

_It's incredible,_ thought Hiccup. _Even this fearsome, wild elder dragon is willing to drop everything and come to our aid. Monsters truly are something special, a treasure of nature._

Soon, though, Sightless looked over his shoulder distractedly. Feeling the burst of wind that came through when the Gore Magala moved, Hiccup looked over as well. Briefly, he wondered what the monster was staring at – and then he spotted the family of sheep from earlier, who were huddled together not far away from the monsters.

With a snort, Sightless bounded off through the snow toward the sheep. The adults ran off instantly, bleating with fright, but the lamb froze with fear and stayed put. It ducked its head, expecting to be attacked…

… And then Sightless gently curled his tail around it, pushing it forward. When the lamb raised its head again, it immediately saw the glow of the fire and the monsters' wings keeping out the wind. Sightless gestured with his head for the lamb to go on, letting out a comforting purr to soothe the lamb's fear.

It seemed to consider, and eventually started to move forward.

Sightless leapt back toward Hiccup and the others and moved into his original position, raising his wing slightly to allow the lamb a clear pathway into the huddle. It entered with a remarkable expression of wonder on its face, then settled down next to Hiccup with a happy bleat.

And, as if encouraged by the lamb's success, the other two sheep walked toward the monsters and Vikings, joining them by the warmth of the fire.

Then, emboldened as well, the rest of the animals began to appear. Amidst the obscuring snow, they melted out of the darkness, drawn by the heat and light. The fact that there were monsters nearby didn't startle or scare them. Yaks, sheep, chickens, turkeys, goats, and more pushed their way through the monsters' outstretched wings and settled down amongst their Viking owners. Obligingly, the monsters stepped back a few paces, stretching their wings as far as they would go so that the circle could widen.

Together, the animals, monsters, and humans shared the comforts of the fire. There was no fear this time.

Hiccup thought he could speak for everyone that they were stunned speechless at the animals' appearance, and their sudden lack of fear toward the monsters that had once terrorized them with their mere existence.

"Yer monsters are really somethin', Hiccup," remarked Gobber.

"Yeah, I know," the boy replied softly, slumping down against Sightless' leg. Astrid joined him, leaning her head on his shoulder comfortably. Feeling more relaxed than he ever had these past few days, Hiccup allowed his arm to reach out and wrap around her shoulder.

The Vikings were deeply tired, but the howling wind blending together with the noises from the animals and the cold that inevitably found its way around the monsters stopped them from getting any sleep. Arachne was complaining bitterly and Snotlout was yawning almost obnoxiously loudly. They almost desperately needed rest from the day's events

That was when a soothing melody curled into the air, rising ever louder until it was audible against the noise of the storm in the background. It was Batwings singing, using his most unique and legendary of all of his Siren abilities for the benefit of all – the fabled Song of the Siren, able to send anything into a hibernation-like sleep.

It didn't take long for all of them – the monsters, Vikings, and animals – to fall fast asleep, warm and cozy in the company of each other.

Even while asleep, the monsters managed to protect those that could not protect themselves.

* * *

**Great Hall**

The storm had blown itself out by morning, and the Kushala Daora had vanished alongside it. In fact, the only sign of the elder dragon Hiccup had seen was a silvery scale that it had left behind, which he tucked into his pocket.

Now, the Monster Riders and the animals were all on their way back to the village, after digging themselves out of the snowdrift that the storm had left on top of them. It was surprisingly warm this morning, even more so after the deathly cold that the storm had brought with it, as the sun was shining and the skies crystal clear, with nary a cloud to mar the endless yonder.

The animals rode on the monsters' backs and in their talons, completely and utterly unafraid. They didn't even seem to be nervous that they were dozens of feet above the ground. Hiccup could infer that this was because, like the Vikings, they now trusted the monsters completely.

They finally landed outside the Great Hall. Stoick jumped off of Heatray's back and pushed the doors to the Great Hall wide open. The interior was illuminated by fresh morning sunlight, but soon shadowed again by the monsters that pushed their way through at the heels of their riders. The cheers of the Vikings, which had been loud and joyous, soon fell to a low murmur.

"Oh dear," Mulch muttered. "Here come the monsters…"

But when Snotsnarl stomped through into the hall with a roar, an entire flock of sheep jumped off of his back and onto the ground. They bleated contentedly, as if happy to see their Viking masters again. Chickens and turkeys flapped clumsily onto the floor, off of the backs of Mocktalk and Blackhawk. Queen and King gently placed yaks down onto their feet.

"Well, would you look at that!" exclaimed Spitelout.

"Everyone!" shouted Hiccup all of a sudden. He had suddenly felt something heavy press down against his hand, the same hand that carried a particularly plump chicken. Raising the pure white, ovular object into the air, the Chief-to-be announced, "The chickens are laying eggs again!"

There was a fresh round of cheers from the assembled Vikings. They were saved!

"I was right, chickens _do_ lay eggs!" said Bucket.

Gobber shut the doors to the Great Hall, allowing the people, monsters, and animals to mingle peacefully with one another once again. The sight brought a smile back to Hiccup's face.

But Snaketail was suddenly at his side, with an expression completely opposite to his. "Twinhorn is still out there," she worried. "What are we going to do about her? She's lost, alone, and still rampaging mindlessly."

"We'll figure something out," assured Hiccup. "Don't we always?"

The Grundenson bit her lip uncertainly, but nodded. Hiccup was right – it wasn't time to worry right now, it was time to rejoice.

And just outside the Great Hall, as the Berk Monster Riders finally found reason to relax and be merry with their adult Viking compatriots, the monsters and dragons of Berk began to return to their snow-covered home.

* * *

_We made peace with the monsters when we saw that we could trust them. As it turns out, they actually have instincts to protect us. All of us._

_Life on Berk just got a little warmer._

* * *

**Finally, the end of the third episode! I had a bit of motivation issues while writing it, but it was worth it.**

**In the next chapter, I'll finally get to see just how dedicated I am to finishing this story. For the first time since the original "Legends are Born", I'm going to have to watch an episode and record it in writing – which contributed to the eventual discontinuation of that particular fanfic.**

**But don't worry. I have a feeling that this story is unique enough for me to continue until the end.**

**Up next: Terrible Twos**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Terrible Twos Part 1**_

* * *

**NOTE: I recently downloaded the "Dragons: Rise of Berk" app for my iPhone, and the game frequently refers to the Great Hall as the "Meade Hall". I'll start using that name from now on, now that it's technically a canon term.**

* * *

_When you're riding a monster, communication is key. You almost have to read each other's minds. Or else._

_And you have to have an open mind, because sometimes, your monster knows better than you._

* * *

**Berk Woods**

Through the peaceful morning air, the screeches and roars of several monsters pealed and cut through the otherwise tranquil atmosphere. If there was anyone below, walking through the forest, they would have heard the rushes of wind over scaly wings as those monsters shot by overhead.

And then they would have heard the loud crashes of something chasing them through the forest.

"Follow me!" called Hiccup, back to the other Monster Riders as they followed him above the forest. "Low-level evasive maneuvers!"

Upon that order, the teens urged their monsters down below the forest's canopy, where the trees were spaced out enough for them to fly around them with relative ease. Behind them, they could hear the crashing become louder as their pursuer gained ground on them.

Hiccup and Sightless abruptly sped up, weaving around the trees with grace and finesse. It was as if the duo was born flying as they easily passed around the obstacles in their path. Sightless never even grazed his wingtips on any branches, so skillfully did he and Hiccup work together.

The others, however, were having a bit more trouble than they were.

"Hey, what're you doing?!" screamed Snotlout as Snotsnarl flew erratically, on a seemingly random path, around the trees in a particularly crowded grove that they had flown into.

"WAAAAUGH!" yelled the Jorgenson boy, covering his face in his hands as a tree suddenly loomed into their path.

They flew directly into a tree, and a thick branch whacked Snotlout across the face as they shot past it. It took two more incidents like that, in quick succession, for Snotsnarl to notice and fly into a clearer portion of the forest.

"Are you trying to _kill me_?!" demanded Snotlout, furious.

Snotsnarl gave his rider an indignant growl, tossing his head.

The Jorgenson growled back and tightened his grip on the Tigrex's horns. "We've gotta go back! I think you missed a branch," he retorted sarcastically.

Having enough of his rider's criticism, Snotsnarl dove back into the forest just as the land below tilted downwards. He led Snotlout right into an even thicker grove of trees, where the boy yelled in anger and pain as branches continuously slashed at his face.

But the real threat wasn't a branch – it came from an unexpected direction. Snotlout could barely see through the thick undergrowth that reached out to smack him over and over again, so the huge black thing that roared out from the forest was a total surprise. Startled, Snotsnarl instinctively flew upwards, avoiding the ebony beast by mere inches.

Finally, Snotsnarl flew out of the grove – with pine needles scratching at Snotlout's face all the while – and back into the sky above the woods. Snotlout slumped moodily in his saddle, branches sticking out from under his helmet and out of his nose. In the grove below, the beast could be heard roaring in fury.

"You got it," he grumbled.

As he and Snotsnarl rapidly fell behind the rest of the group, Astrid and Snaketail caught up to Hiccup. The two girls were both riding Blackhawk, who proverbially fell into step beside Sightless as they flew through the increasingly thick forest. The two monsters briefly split up as a tree came into their path, and joined up again when the obstacle had passed.

Hiccup suddenly heard a scream from Astrid, and whipped around to look over his shoulder. Blackhawk was flying straight for a fallen tree, and the Yian Garuga seemed to be resisting her efforts to steer.

"Blackhawk, up!" cried Snaketail.

But the Garuga just squawked and lashed her entire body, flying sharply downwards while the two girls on her back were flung up into the air. They fell with shrill screams, but Blackhawk dove under the tree and caught them magnificently on her back.

"You were right, Blackhawk," gasped Snaketail. "It was down, not up."

"Whew…" sighed Astrid. "We almost died."

"Almost died?!" demanded Snotlout, as he and Snotsnarl flew down beside them. "I _could have_ died! Ick…" he added, pulling out one of the twigs from his nostril.

"That's a good look for you," Astrid snickered. Not getting her sarcasm, Snotlout quickly stuck the twig back up his nose and smiled winningly at her.

Nearby, Arachne and Venomwing caught up with Hiccup. The Philston girl yelled across, "Have you seen Fishlegs?"

"No, I haven't," Hiccup shouted back. Raising his voice, he threw the question out to the group – "Has anyone seen Fishlegs?"

"I saw him yesterday," Ruffnut chimed in. "Does that count?"

Hiccup found himself at a loss for words as the Thorston girl steered Queen closer to him, giving him a flirtatious look. Thankfully, Batwings called from up ahead, and Hiccup immediately flew toward the sound of his voice.

The Siren was riding Mocktalk the Qurupeco as usual, but in an odd way – the bird wyvern was fluttering around, lunging forward at something on the ground before swiftly flying back upwards. Hiccup, all of a sudden, saw the reason why the monster and his rider flew in such a taunting manner.

Twinhorn was there, rough black scales gleaming in the sunlight and jumping again and again at Mocktalk and Batwings, roaring with rage. The Black Diablos seemed unaware of the fact that she could fly, and kept jumping up and down like a panicked chicken.

"I could use some help over here!" Batwings snapped as he saw the Gore Magala fly into the clearing. "This manic wyvern almost gored Mocktalk five seconds ago!"

"Yeah, help Mocktalk!" squawked the Qurupeco.

"I'm on it, I'm on it!" grumbled Hiccup. "Let's go, Sightless!" Clicking his saddle's stirrup, which adjusted the splint that held Sightless' wing in place, Hiccup steered his monster directly over Twinhorn's head, catching her attention. With an enraged bellow, the Black Diablos followed them mindlessly.

Hiccup could see a high cliff wall coming into view, even as Twinhorn gained on him, smashing through shrubs and trees in her anger. When he was a second away from slamming into the cliff, he clicked the stirrup again, and Sightless shot upwards as if launched from a catapult.

Underneath them, Twinhorn couldn't stop in time, and smashed into the cliff wall. She moaned lowly, then slipped into unconsciousness.

The rest of the Monster Riders showed up one-by-one, their lighting down on the grass a safe distance from Twinhorn's unmoving form. "That couldn't have gone any better," remarked Arachne.

"Poor Twinhorn," Snaketail murmured, hopping down off of Blackhawk's back and reaching out her arm, as if trying to pet her Diablos.

But Astrid swatted her arm, restraining the Grundenson girl from touching the sleeping wyvern. Twinhorn was too dangerous to even think of approaching, even while asleep.

"I just wish I knew what was wrong with her," she sighed, slinking away and coming to a stop beside Hiccup.

"I know what's wrong," Tuffnut spoke up bluntly.

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Duh. She's been going out of control and her scales have turned black," the Thorston boy finished, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Thanks a lot, Captain Obvious," sneered Snotlout. The arrogant boy still had twigs sticking out of his nose, and was giving Astrid flirtatious looks.

"Alright, guys," Hiccup said, getting everyone's attention. "You all head back to the village. Batwings and I are going to look for Fishlegs, and hopefully find him before Twinhorn comes to."

Within moments, the Monster Riders had mounted their monsters and were flying off in the direction of the village.

In the silence that followed, Hiccup suddenly heard a voice. It cried faintly, "Over here! Help me!"

"Fishlegs?" questioned Batwings, turning to look behind him.

In a tree just over on the other side of the clearing, the distressed Ingerman could be seen atop Heatray. The two of them were clearly stuck in the tree's branches, which seemed to be strong enough to support even the heavy Gravios' weight.

"Whoa, there you are, Fishlegs!" exclaimed Hiccup, running over to help. Sightless bounded after him. "Are you okay up there?"

"I'm fine!" Fishlegs called back. "Just… hanging out. Not like I crashed or anything. Okay, I crashed. I said it…"

Shaking his head, Hiccup reached up toward Fishlegs' dangling boots, grabbed hold, and pulled with all his might. But the larger boy was really stuck, and Hiccup went flying backwards onto the ground after a few seconds of pulling – along with Fishlegs' pants.

"Oops," he said lamely.

"Aaaaaaand there goes my dignity…" muttered Fishlegs.

"_Your_ dignity?" Hiccup shot back, wincing. He knew that the image of Fishlegs' rear end would take a while to burn itself out of his head.

Batwings, snickering at the sight of Fishlegs dangling from the tree in his underwear, tightly grabbed each of his legs with his clawed hands. He pulled twice as hard as Hiccup did, pushing against the tree's trunk with his talons and beating his wings frantically. But he gave up shortly afterward, when Fishlegs had only managed to budge an inch.

"Yep, he's really stuck good there," the Siren noted. "I think I have a way to get you down, but you'll have to stay perfectly still."

"Why?" asked Fishlegs, mild suspicion entering his voice. "What are you going to do?"

"Careful, Mocktalk," Batwings advised his monster, ignoring Fishlegs. "He's not wearing any pants."

Hiccup had a feeling that he knew what Batwings was going to do, and he could see that Fishlegs was starting to. The Ingerman boy stammered, "W-Wait a second! What does my lack of pants have to do with –"

Abruptly, Batwings slashed his hand down, signaling Mocktalk. The bird wyvern immediately launched a blob of mucus with a loud coughing sound, while simultaneously raising his wings and slamming his flintstones together. The sparks thrown up by the claw-like flints ignited the mucus ball, which slammed into Heatray's neck and threw Fishlegs off of his back. Sightless sprung into action, leaping underneath the tree and neatly catching the boy's shirt with his jaws.

"Thank you," squeaked Fishlegs. Hiccup handed him his pants, which he gratefully slipped over his legs where they belonged.

"Now," Hiccup began, "what're we going to do about Heat –"

The tree suddenly collapsed under the flying wyvern's weight, and he plummeted down to the ground with an earthshaking *thud*.

"…ray," finished Hiccup with a sigh.

"Can you do me a favor and not tell the others that Heatray broke the trees?" asked Fishlegs hopefully. "He's sensitive about his weight."

The Gravios let out a downcast, grumbling growl in agreement.

"How did this even happen?" asked Batwings, arching an eyebrow at the pile of splinters that used to be a sturdy pine.

"I don't know," answered Fishlegs. "I was just flying along, taking notes on the flora and the fauna… typical guy stuff… when something jumped out of the bushes. It was like, I don't know… an electrified squirrel."

"Really?" said Hiccup. "An electrified squirrel."

"Or chipmunk," the other boy amended. "Or some other high-voltage rodent."

All he got in response were several pairs of skeptical looks, including one from Heatray.

"I don't know, it scared us!" Fishlegs suddenly burst out, flustered. "Isn't that enough for you guys?" Discouraged and a little insulted, he climbed up onto Heatray's back and lurched up into the air, heading toward the village.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Batwings barked out a laugh. "Did you hear that?" he cackled. "An electrified squirrel. Everyone knows there's no such thing as an – ELECTRIFIED SQUIRREL!"

Suddenly, a sizzling projectile of reddish-black lightning zipped out of the trees and blasted through the grove of trees on the other side, just missing the sleeping Twinhorn's horns. Sightless immediately whacked Hiccup aside with his tail before the lightning bolt could hit him. Mocktalk dove into the bushes, frightened, while Batwings scuttled up a tree in surprise.

"Whoa," muttered Hiccup, rubbing the aching bruise where Sightless had hit him. "You saw that, right?"

"I definitely didn't imagine it," replied Batwings, hopping back down from his branch.

They followed the path the projectile had taken a short ways into the forest, before coming across a recently-fallen log that had probably been the cause of the bolt striking it. In a small cave formed by a pair of boulders just beyond that log, a small chirping sound could be heard. Hiccup caught sight of a small beak-like mouth and talons before the creature ducked back inside the cave.

Followed closely by Batwings while the monsters kept their distance, Hiccup crept up to the boulder and gingerly lowered himself until he was staring into the crevasse. A pair of beady red eyes stared up at him, and the creature poked its head out curiously to sniff him.

"Hey, little guy," he said with a friendly tone. "Who're you? I've never seen anything like –"

Without warning, the small wyvern snapped its beak ferociously at Hiccup's hand, almost taking a finger off.

Sightless approached it and sniffed around the cave, then recoiled and roared angrily. He didn't seem to like the little monster from the way he bared his teeth and thumped his tail on the ground.

"You're not helping," scolded Hiccup.

The wyvern flapped its wings once, hopping out into the open. The sunlight streaming down through the trees revealed it to have white scales covering its back and wings, while olive-green scales covered the rest of its body. A needle-like crest extended from the top of its head, and pure white fur flared out in a ruff around its neck. Even more strangely, the bird-like monster had two four-foot long ribbons trailing from its wings, each ending in a claw.

"It looks a lot like a Berukyurosu," noted Batwings, bending down to examine the flying wyvern.

"But look at how much different he is," said Hiccup thoughtfully. "You know, I think we might have discovered a new species."

Sightless was there all of a sudden, using his armored head to push his rider away from the wyvern. Hiccup struggled to push the Gore Magala away, who snarled at him in response. "What is wrong with you?" he scolded again, then pointed to the wyvern. "He needs our help. I think he's hurt."

Indeed, the wyvern seemed to walk with a limp. Hiccup supposed that his injury had been caused by the impact with the log earlier.

"It's alright," he soothed, bending down on one knee and holding out a tuft of dragon nip. "I'm a friend. Don't worry, it's just a little dragon nip."

The wyvern poked his beak into the intoxicating-smelling grass and sneezed. Like most monsters, he seemed to be more resistant to the sedative effects of the dragon nip than dragons were, but he still calmed down. But when Sightless growled at him, he shrieked and flew up into Hiccup's arms.

"AUGH!" yelled Hiccup, wincing. "Little monster, big claws."

"Come on," Batwings said to the wyvern, patting its crest. "We'll get your injury fixed up."

The not-Berukyurosu tilted his head curiously at him and chirped, snuggling closer to Hiccup's chest.

* * *

**Berk Monster Academy**

"This is so exciting!" squealed Fishlegs, hopping up and down ecstatically. "It's a whole new species, I'm sure of it!"

Tuffnut squinted down at the wyvern and grunted, "It doesn't look like an electrified squirrel to _me_."

"We have no idea what it's capable of!" exclaimed Arachne, bending down to tickle the not-Berukyurosu under the chin. He flapped his wings and lashed his tail happily at her touch.

"There's no telling what it might do," breathed Fishlegs, in a voice hushed with awe. Every move the not-Berukyurosu made seemed to hold him in something _beyond_ fascination.

Snaketail knelt down to the wyvern's level and ordered, "Electrify! Do it!"

The not-Berukyurosu's response was to pounce on her and sink its beak into her nose. Flailing her arms in panic, the girl screamed, "Get it off, get it off!"

Ruffnut's snicker caught the wyvern's attention, and it leapt off of Snaketail and onto her face instead. She let out a panicked yell and backed away, stumbling over a basket full of fish and falling into it backside-first.

"Oh, I am hurt!" she moaned. "I am very much hurt!"

"Hey, that _is _funny," laughed Snotlout.

"Come on, guys, this is serious," Hiccup said wearily. He held out his arms, and the wyvern jumped off Ruff's head and landed in his embrace. "We have to figure out what to do with him. He's hurt!"

"Oh, _he's_ hurt?" demanded Snaketail, patting her bleeding nose and wincing.

"He's just scared," explained Batwings, hanging upside down by his talons from the chain-linked net that functioned as the academy's ceiling. "I'm sure he'll settle down."

"Um, need I remind you, new species?" cautioned Fishlegs. "We don't actually know what he'll do?"

"Subspecies, most likely," corrected Hiccup. "He does look a lot like a flying wyvern we already know of."

Confused, Tuff replied, "No he doesn't. He doesn't look anything like Batwings. Or Blackhawk. Or Heatray."

"Two of those aren't even flying wyverns, butt-elf," rasped Ruff, shoving her brother into the basket of fish. "They're brute wyverns."

"No, we're not!" growled Batwings.

"Getting back on track here," Astrid interrupted, speaking for the first time since Hiccup had shown them the not-Berukyurosu. "Someone still has to take him home."

Immediately, everyone backed away from Hiccup.

Far from upset over this, Hiccup adjusted his grip on the wyvern and grinned down at him. "Well, here's your 'somebody'."

The not-Berukyurosu tilted his head again at him, and this time, gave him a wyvern-esque smile of his own.

There was still some time left in the day, so Hiccup and the rest unanimously agreed to use the opportunity to officially write the not-Berukyurosu into the Book of Monsters. Snotlout and Snaketail set up a table in the middle of the academy, which Hiccup gently placed his new pet wyvern onto.

"Alright, Sparks," he said affectionately. "It's time to figure out just what you are."

"Sparks?" asked Astrid with a small smile.

"Well, the name just came to me," Hiccup explained, shrugging.

"Ooh, this is so exciting!" Fishlegs squealed again, unable to contain himself any longer. "Documenting a new species! Learning all about it!" Beside himself with ecstasy, he ran off to get the Book of Monsters.

"Learning?" repeated Tuff with disgust.

"No thanks," added Ruff.

Fishlegs came back with the Book of Monsters, his nose buried in it. He looked up enthusiastically and blurted, "There's nothing in the book that looks anything like it! Except the Berukyurosu, of course. But that's beside the point! This one is clearly a monster all its own."

"We even get to determine what it's called," breathed Arachne, a slow grin spreading across her face. "That is a _really _big responsibility! I might not be ready for that!"

"I am!" bragged Snotlout, pushing the younger girl aside. "I'm gonna name the snot out of it!"

On Astrid's request for a measuring tape, Arachne instantly hopped to it and retrieved it for her. Astrid patted her head, making her smile grandly, and measured out Sparks' wingspan. She reported, "Five feet for the wings, and four for the ribbons."

"Compared to the body, that's a pretty big wingspan," remarked Batwings as Hiccup wrote it down.

Snotlout was instantly there, eagerly rattling off names. "Bigwing! Bigspan! Wingribbon!"

Fishlegs approached next, holding out a piece of parchment. He almost reverently held it out and said, "May I have the honor of administering the claw test?"

Obligingly, Sparks shredded the paper with his talons and ribbons.

"Look at those talons," commented Snaketail, pointing at them. "They're razor-like!"

"Sharpclaw!" shouted Snotlout, baring his fingers like claws. "Razorfeet! Razor-sharp-claw-talon-feet!"

"Is he serious?" whispered Tuff to his sister.

Writing down a few more notes, Hiccup started when Fishlegs suddenly wrapped a thick arm around his shoulders and murmured excitedly, "You know what's next, don't you?"

"No, actually," Hiccup replied.

"Only the single most important test to determine a monster's reaction to eels," the Ingerman boy explained, pausing to let Hiccup answer.

It wasn't the Chief-to-be that answered. "The eel reaction test?" sniped Batwings with a sardonic grin.

"Exactly!" said Fishlegs, delighted.

Arachne, just as excited, practically pounced on the basket that they had brought out with the table. She reached inside and pulled out a dead eel, hands slipping slightly on its slimy scales. Immediately, Sightless and Mocktalk – who had decided to stay after flying their riders to the Berk Monster Academy – reeled with disgust and ran to the other side of the arena. Batwings looked like he was going to vomit.

But Sparks cautiously nudged the eel with his beak, before deciding that it wasn't anything to be scared of and wolfing it down like the world's most delicious treat.

"He ate it! He ate the eel!" gasped Snaketail.

"Eel-eater!" pronounced Snotlout. "Come on, that's perfect."

"Fishlegs," Hiccup began, "has there ever been a monster – or dragon – that wasn't afraid of eels?"

"Never in recorded history," replied Fishlegs, surprisingly serious. "Well, except for a few sea-going monsters. But nevertheless, we're in uncharted waters here, my friend."

"You hear that, Sparks?" chirped Arachne. "You're one of a kind!"

Sparks chirped back and blew his eel breath into her face.

"Let's see if we can get it to fly," Astrid said, as Hiccup picked up the flying wyvern.

"Maybe he would if he saw Sightless fly," offered Fishlegs.

"Good idea," the Haddock boy replied, then turned to the Gore Magala. "Sightless, you want to go for a ride?"

Sightless just snorted and shivered his wings.

"Sightless!" urged Hiccup. But his efforts were for naught – the Gore Magala wasn't budging.

"So much for the 'monster trainer'," snickered Snotlout.

"Don't worry about it," assured Batwings. "Mocktalk and I have got this. Watch and learn, Sparks."

The Siren hopped onto Mocktalk's saddle, and they immediately launched into the air, flying right out the exit and swooping and diving in circles above the wire ceiling. Sparks watched intently as the Qurupeco completed one last lap and flew back into the academy, landing lightly on his talons. Feeling proud of himself, Mocktalk puffed up his throat sac and waved his heart-shaped tail, doing a little victory dance on the spot.

"Alright, your turn," Batwings said cheerfully. "But don't think you have to live up to that."

"Mocktalk, Mocktalk, oi oi oi!" agreed the colorful bird wyvern.

"Arggggghh, _again_ with that?!" demanded Snotlout, letting out a strangled growl of frustration.

Making up his mind to give it a try, Sparks hopped to the edge of the table and glided down to the floor, flapping his wings for balance. He then began to gleefully walk around in a circle on the ground, seemingly content with remaining grounded.

"What's he doing?" asked Ruff.

"Maybe something's wrong with him," suggested Astrid.

"Aw man, we broke him," grumbled Tuff.

"But he must be able to fly!" objected Fishlegs. "The Berukyurosu is the best flyer of all flying wyverns! This one has to be at least as good –"

A flash of dark light caused him and Arachne to wince and shield their faces. Somehow, Sparks had managed to ignite himself with reddish-black electricity, which sizzled and fizzed around him as he ran around in a tight circle on the ground. Building enough momentum, the not-Berukyurosu took off, flying in ever-increasing cycles around the academy. The Monster Riders oohed and aahed as the wyvern shot through the arena like a black lightning bolt. Finally, Sparks came back to rest in the middle of them, doing a fancy, expert twirl in the air just before he landed, dispelling the black lightning as he did so.

"You are one incredible little monster," said Hiccup admiringly, allowing Sparks to fly back into his arms.

"Look at that burn mark!" commented Ruffnut, pointing to a charred black spiral that Sparks' lightning had burnt onto the ground.

"Yeah?" challenged Tuff. "Look at this burn mark." He shoved his smoking hand – which had probably been caught in the red-black electricity as Sparks flew – into his sister's face with a grin.

"Did you see how he flew?" enthused Arachne. "He soared like… like a Rathalos and came back like a Typhoomerang!"

"But with a Berukyurosu's flight patterns," noted Batwings.

"And that lightning was like the draconic energy that some elder dragons I've read about are able to create!" exclaimed Astrid. She was right – a select few monsters were able to control a rare element known only as the Dragon element. It appeared that Sparks was one more of those rare few.

"Blazing spinner!" crowed Snotlout, still trying to name the wyvern. "Buzzing come-backer!"

"No," mused Fishlegs. "The _Doragyurosu_."

Confused, Snotlout asked, "Doragyurosu? I don't get it."

* * *

**Hiccup's House**

The sun had set, and Hiccup had taken Sparks, the newly-christened Doragyurosu, back to his house. He was sure that the little wyvern would really enjoy it in the snug little dwelling – it was warm, safe, and just the right size for two Vikings, a Siren, a Gore Magala, and an eagle-sized wyvern. It would be perfect.

Unfortunately, the second of the two Vikings that lived there thought otherwise.

"He can't stay," objected Stoick loudly. "I've got a one-monster limit!"

"You let Batwings stay," Hiccup pointed out.

From the rafters above him, the Siren let out a soft snore as he turned over in his sleep.

"That's because he's not the 'unholy offspring of contagion and plague himself'," Stoick countered, referencing what Sightless' species was frequently called.

"Oh, come on, you're going to love him!" assured Hiccup. "Look, look! He can do an impression of you!"

He tugged on Sparks' tail, and the Doragyurosu let out an amusingly Viking-like yell that sounded like Stoick when Sightless had once shot him in the rear by accident.

Stoick raised an eyebrow, not amused in the least.

"Don't think of him as a monster," the junior Haddock tried again. "Think of him as… say, an electrified squirrel."

"I don't want one of those, either," grunted Stoick, heaving a load of firewood into the fire pit. He looked at Sightless and added, "Well? What are you waiting for? Do your thing."

The Gore Magala reared up, wisps of dark fog curling from the sides of his mouth. But before he could spit out a burst of black fire, Sparks shot a thin, sizzling beam of red-black electricity that struck the wood, igniting it. Sightless jumped back, startled, as the blast shot too close to his nose for comfort.

Only now did Stoick laugh, saying, "Well! Looks like you got torched!"

Sightless looked away with a growl.

"Oh, that's his name, by the way," Stoick added, patting Sparks on the head. "'Torch'."

"Yeah, about that," replied Hiccup, rubbing his head sheepishly. "He already has a name. I named him Sparks. Just seemed to fit him."

"Eh, I still like my idea more," said Stoick dismissively.

Hiccup looked hopefully at his father's face, crinkled with amusement. "Soooo… he can stay?"

"Can't throw him out now," the Chief chuckled. "He just lit the fireplace."

While Stoick got comfortable by the fire, Hiccup gathered Sparks in his arms and walked upstairs with Sightless following close behind. The Gore Magala didn't carry himself with his usual enthusiasm – instead, he more or less dragged himself up the stairs while glowering at Sparks.

Hiccup was only in his room for a second before he went downstairs to get some fish. When he got back, Sparks was curiously flying around the room in slow loops, examining everything thoroughly. To Hiccup, this was a good sign, as monsters usually investigated a territory that they thought would be nice to settle down in.

He's getting used to his new home, he realized with a smile.

"All right," the Haddock boy grunted, heaving a basket of fish onto the ground before Sightless. "Fifty for Sightless… and five for Sparks," he added, taking five salmon from the top of Sightless' pile and putting them on a plate for Sparks.

Hiccup smiled at the two monsters and remarked, "There you go, boys – your first supper together."

A hungry gurgle of anticipation escaped Sightless' jaws – but when he glanced down at his fish, they was gone. With a growl, he swung his head toward the Doragyurosu, who let out a burp.

"Whoa, Sightless," remarked Hiccup, taking the now-empty basket. "You sure are hungry tonight."

Sparks chirped in agreement and fluttered after the Chief-to-be, joining him at his writing desk. Grunting, Sightless irately stalked off to the slab of rock on the other side of the room, his usual sleeping spot.

In order to keep the Doragyurosu amused while he worked in the Book of Monsters, Hiccup gave him his helmet. Sparks loved it, and clumsily nudged his head underneath it and paraded around the room.

"Okay, Sparks, hold still," laughed Hiccup, reaching for a piece of charcoal and opening the Book of Monsters to an empty page. "I'm trying to draw you. You're going to get your own chapter!"

The little flying wyvern looked up at the boy, the ill-fitting helmet slipping over one of his eyes. Hiccup's smile widened, thinking that he must have looked that way when he was that small, trying on his dad's helmet for the first time.

"_You're going to be a great Viking one day,_" he remembered Stoick telling him. "_You're going to be Chief!_"

_And what a disappointment I must have turned out to be,_ Hiccup thought sadly.

Noticing Hiccup's cheerful expression fading, Sparks chirped and flapped his wings, trying to bring the smile back. The undoubtedly cute sight worked like a charm, and Hiccup found himself grinning again.

"Rawr!" he growled playfully. The wyvern chirped back, imitating him.

They played for another few minutes, before Hiccup closed the book and decided that it was time to turn in for the night. He placed Sparks at the foot of his bed and told him, "Okay, Sparks, this is where you're going to sleep!"

Sparks had other ideas, and flapped up onto Sightless' slab and made himself comfortable next to the sleeping Gore Magala.

Who turned out not to be asleep at all, and seized Sparks' tail in his jaws before flinging the smaller wyvern away. But that didn't discourage Sparks one bit, who hopped right back onto the flat rock.

"Oh, look at that," Hiccup gushed. "He's made himself at home! Sightless, you don't mind sharing for the night, do you?"

Indeed minding that very much, Sightless leapt off of the bed and into the rafters, stretching out on the largest beam and laying down on top of it. Meanwhile, Sparks settled down onto the slab and curled his tail over his legs, sound asleep in moments.

"I hope he sleeps well," worried Hiccup. He made his way over to his bed, threw his vest down on the floor, and continued, "I mean, he hardly ate."

At that, Sightless let out a screaming roar of protest.

"And you, just go to sleep," muttered Hiccup, blowing out the candle on his side table and enveloping the room in darkness.

Grumpier than ever, Sightless rested his head on his paws and folded his cape-like wings over top of himself. However, he hadn't been resting for long when his keen ears suddenly heard something off in the far distance. He growled, not liking the sound of whatever it was.

Inhaling through his nostrils, Sightless could smell Hiccup and Sparks laying on their respective beds, fast asleep. The Gore Magala huffed with satisfaction and leapt out through the open window, landing on the grass just outside. Under cover of darkness, he loped toward the woods.

He could feel that something was amiss.

* * *

**Berk Woods**

All was silent in the patch of forest where the Monster Riders had gone on their most recent mission. Twinhorn was gone, having woken up and rampaged off to who knows where. The only things that moved were the branches on the trees as the wind blew through them.

However, in a small clearing in which the moon's light shone down upon the ground, unopposed by leaves or branches, a shadow fell across the boulder where Sparks had first been found. A great, beaked head bent down low to the ground to sniff the rock, searching for something.

The adult Doragyurosu found it, alright. The scent of its chick was all over the boulder, alongside an unfamiliar one that it had never smelled before. But it was enough to let her know that its infant had been taken away.

Rage boiled up inside the Doragyurosu – rage at the Diablos that had first scared off the chick and rage at whatever it was that had kidnapped him. With an unearthly, guttural roar, the Doragyurosu set itself ablaze with red lightning, fanning its monstrous wings and allowing the storm of energy to rush across the forest. Trees caught fire, smoke rose, and the hunt for the baby wyvern began.

* * *

**No Torch in this episode – instead, a Doragyurosu named Sparks! Don't worry though, Torch will appear in the next chapter.**

**On an unrelated note – tell me, readers, how do you like the running gag of Mocktalk stealing Snotlout's line?**

**Review, and see you soon for the second half of this episode!**


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Terrible Twos Part 2**_

* * *

**Hiccup's House**

Everything was peaceful in the slumbering village of Berk – the Chief's house most of all. Hiccup snored softly as he slept, while Sparks the Doragyurosu turned over on the rock slab he slept on.

Sightless' rock slab, to be exact. But that wasn't the reason the Gore Magala was currently glaring at the little wyvern. No, he could detect that something was amiss in the Berk woods, and that it had something to do with Hiccup's new pet.

Almost as if to confirm his suspicions, a faraway roar sounded from across the island, barely audible yet there nonetheless. Sightless raised his head, startled by the sound, and immediately knew that he had to warn his rider.

Hiccup bolted awake with a cry of pain as the Gore Magala rushed into him, throwing him out of bed and onto the hard wooden floor. "Ow!" he cried. "Sightless! Why would you do that?!"

As Sightless pawed the ground and made a concerned warble in his throat, Hiccup looked at the floor and saw a shattered black substance on the ground. Sighing, he grumbled, "And now I have to get more charcoal. Sightless, behave yourself while I'm gone, please?"

He walked down the stairs not a moment later, gone in a flash. The Gore Magala was left growling to himself, but his annoyance was soon forgotten when he heard another faint roar coming from the direction of the woods. He whipped around, and his tail accidentally smacked Sparks out of bed.

In an instant, the Doragyurosu was awake and indignant. The small wyvern leapt forward and bit Sightless tail, prompting a scream of pain from the other monster. Angrily, Sightless pounced, but Sparks got out of the way just in time. Sightless regained his footing and snarled at him as he landed on the other side of the room, firing a bolt of red lightning as his talons touched the ground.

The lightning started a fire, a bright orange blaze that began to spread at a snail's pace, licking against Sightless' toes. He screamed again, a sound not of pain but of anger. Black mist swirled from under his cloak as he spread his wings menacingly, ready for the attack.

But Hiccup had heard the roaring and seen the fire, and raced upstairs with a blanket to swat the fire away. "Sightless!" he breathlessly cried, and stumbled to catch Sparks in his arms when the wyvern jumped toward him.

"Look what you did, Sightless!" exclaimed Hiccup, appalled. "What's wrong with you?"

The Gore Magala reared up on his hind legs and let out a loud scream before turning sharply around, sweeping his wing into Hiccup's face. When Hiccup was able to see again, the end of Sightless' cloak was already vanishing over the lip of the window.

Sparks chirped questioningly, to which Hiccup replied in a concerned voice. "I don't know, big guy. He's starting to worry me too."

Heading toward the forest, Sightless raced over the ground like a shadow, rapidly disappearing into the dark woods. His horns flicked out, allowing his heat-sensitive pits to be exposed, a feature that no human on Berk knew about yet. Guided by his heat vision and sense of smell, Sightless dodged the numerous trees in his way that seemed to suddenly leap out from the darkness as soon as he got close.

To anyone with eyes, his path would seem like a blur. But the blur all of a sudden shot into focus as Sightless jumped into a sturdy tree, claws closing around a branch and bringing his progress to a halt. In the moonlit clearing before him, he could detect the heat of a couple of living things just ahead.

As Sightless hid in the shadows, two Doragyurosus flew around each other as if playing, olive-green scales shining slightly in the dim light provided by the moon far above. But their game stopped instantly as the bushes nearby began to rustle. The pair of wyverns shrieked and flew away, just as a wild boar emerged from the foliage with a menacing squeal. Although not nearly as big as a Bullfango – a similar and much deadlier monster – the boar was still large enough to be dangerous to the little flying wyverns.

But in Sightless' ears, a tremendous crash sounded from just up ahead, and the boar shrieked in terror. The mother Doragyurosu had come to her chicks' aid, vulture-like head breaking through the pine needles and razor-tipped wing ribbons smacking down trees in her way.

The giant wyvern rose into the air with a flap of her wings, the resultant gust of wind blasting through the forest and clearing leaves from the ground. The boar squealed and tried to run away – but it was too late, as a crimson streak flashed through the clearing and plucked the boar from the ground.

The Typhoomerang, not quite fully-grown and thus not as large as the Doragyurosu mother, reared its horned head and roared at the bigger monster almost in triumph. The Doragyurosu's response was a horrible, guttural growl of rage, and she flew higher into the air to chase after the Typhoomerang.

Just then, the Doragyurosu's scales sparked and then ignited, turning the massive monster into a blazing storm of reddish-black lightning. A roar tore from her mouth, and joined by the crackling of draconic energy, it was a sound to fear. The Typhoomerang increased its speed, hoping to outspeed the murderous mother wyvern.

However, flying with a heavy boar in its talons was wearing down its stamina far faster than normal, and the Typhoomerang didn't have a choice but to land exhaustedly.

The Doragyurosu spread its wings and released its electricity in a net of deadly, loudly sizzling bolts of red lightning that curved in parabolic arcs toward the ground. Soon, the earth and Typhoomerang trapped within the circle of bolts became lost in a haze of red. Coupled with the sun, which had just peeked over the tops of the trees as the morning began, the blazing flying wyvern was an awesome sight.

Sightless could sense everything that was happening, and he watched in rapt fascination. Although he possessed no eyes of his own, he somehow knew that the mother Doragyurosu was staring right down at him as she released her draconic thunderbolts, daring him to try something. But the Gore Magala wasn't stupid – he couldn't handle a beast that fearsome without his rider.

He turned tail with a swish of his wings, and bounded back the way he had come in search of Hiccup.

* * *

**Gobber's Forge**

The following morning, Hiccup was standing next to Gobber as the smith worked on repairing one blade of a pair of Dual Blades. In fact, it was one of the Double Deathbolts, which was Batwings' weapon of choice. The Siren had damaged the sword in a mock combat session with Astrid and her own Dual Blades, and thus had taken it to Gobber for repair.

"It's weird," said Hiccup worriedly, holding Sparks tightly against his chest. The wyvern's head was bent toward the hot coals Gobber was working with, and he was watching the burly Viking work curiously.

Hiccup continued uncertainly, "It's, it's like Sightless is jealous or something. Which is great," he added with exasperation. "My first girlfriend is a dragon."

"What do you mean by '_first_ girlfriend'?" asked Snaketail, who was leaning against the nearby wall.

"Would you just shut it?" asked Hiccup, even more exasperatedly.

"Another thing we have in common!" said Gobber cheerfully. "Somethin' must be goin' on under the – ugh, these coals aren't hot enough. Silversol!" he suddenly called.

The Silver Rathalos, who had been sunning himself just outside, raised his head and blasted a fireball at the hot coals, whose bright red glow suddenly became white-hot before dimming back down.

"Ah, there it is," exclaimed Gobber, heading over to the anvil. "Anyway, back ta what I was sayin'. Somethin' must be goin' on under the surface. Monsters are complex creatures, Hiccup, and work on many emotional levels! Me, I've only got the one."

The three Vikings suddenly jumped as Sightless leapt out from out of nowhere and screamed at them. Hiccup cried in shock, "Whoa, okay, Sightless! See? This is what I've been talking about," he told Gobber and Snaketail.

Sightless reared up and screamed again, flaring his wings out and clawing at the air. He looked positively furious. Or possibly desperate.

"Sightless, settle down!" ordered Hiccup.

With a chirp, Sparks suddenly jumped out of Hiccup's arms and landed on Sightless' nose. The Gore Magala growled and snapped his jaws around the Doragyurosu's tail, before turning around and beginning to run off.

"Gobber, grab him!" cried Snaketail.

Surprisingly nimble on just one foot, Gobber jumped in front of Sightless and spread his hand and tongs. "Yeh want ta dance, big boy?" he challenged. "'Cause I've got me dancin' shoe on!"

With a flash of red and black, Sparks ignited himself and flew free of Sightless' jaws. The bigger monster bounded after him, with Gobber lunging forward and grabbing hold of his tail.

"Gotcha!" he crowed, right before Sightless chased Sparks into the forge. There was a mighty clatter of weapons, shields, and blacksmithing tools as the Gore Magala rampaged through the shop. When Sparks suddenly swerved and flew out the window, Sightless whipped around and followed, flinging Gobber into a cupboard.

But the blacksmith was far from upset. "Me panpipes!" he cried joyfully, reaching in and pulling out the instrument. "Now I can get the band back together!"

When Sightless turned around again to have another go at Sparks, he found the little wyvern hiding behind Hiccup's leg. The boy commanded sternly, "Sightless, back down!"

The Gore Magala didn't, pushing his face right into his rider's.

Hiccup glared, holding his ground and determinedly staring his monster down. He didn't care that he was guaranteed to lose the staring contest.

"Not. Helping," he muttered through gritted teeth at Gobber, in response to a well-played series of flute-like notes that sang lightly through the air.

"Sorry," the blacksmith apologized.

Taking a step closer to the monster, Hiccup told him, "I don't know what's going on here, but I don't like it!"

Sightless only growled and rushed off again.

The sound of a low, breathy musical note drifted past again, breaking the tension.

"What?" asked Gobber innocently as Snaketail shot him a glare.

* * *

**Berk Woods**

During a routine scouting mission over the forest the next morning, Hiccup was unusually quiet as he sat behind Astrid atop Blackhawk. His mind kept wandering to the previous night, where another fight between Sightless and Sparks had forced him to resort to drastic measures. He had flown Sightless toward their secret cove and, knowing that his monster's injured wing prevented him from flying without a rider, left him there for an indefinite period of time.

Hiccup himself wasn't quite sure when he would let Sightless out of the cove. All he knew was that Sparks and Sightless couldn't live together under the same roof, and that he needed some time to think about what to do.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Worrying about the Gore Magala had left him unable to sleep for the majority of last night. Sparks, on the other hand, had slept well and was now perched on his shoulder, eyes wide as he scanned the tops of the trees below.

"Hey, don't worry," Astrid told him, glancing back at him. "You did the right thing with Sightless. He'll snap out of it."

"Yeah?" replied Snotlout from beside them. "Well, what if he _doesn't_? Hmm… then you won't have a monster to ride. And if you don't have a monster to ride, then you can't be the leader of the Monster Academy! Ha!"

Snaketail smirked at him from her position on Hookfang's back, whom she had borrowed from Snotlout. "Yeah, then Astrid will be in charge," she replied.

"Do you _really _want that?" added Astrid herself, giving him an innocent smile.

Suddenly, there was a rush of wings as Ruff and Tuff's monsters joined them in their flight formation. "You will not believe what we just saw!" crowed Tuff.

"Excuse me," Snotlout told him, "we're busy having a power struggle."

"In the air? Whoa," commented Ruff.

"We are not having a power struggle," Hiccup corrected his cousin.

Tuff steered King closer to Blackhawk so the Chief-to-be could hear. "The entire forest," he said. "Ultimate destruction!"

"It was beautiful," sighed Ruff. "The whole thing was just demolished!"

Before Hiccup could reply, a loud, bellowing roar rang out through the morning sky, startling the gang into abruptly stopping their conversation.

"What in the name of Odin's ghost was that?" squeaked Arachne.

"Um… I think we're about to find out," answered Fishlegs, pointing ahead with a shaky finger.

Everyone turned their heads in that direction and immediately saw what he was pointing to. A brilliant crimson dragon was flying their way, eyes focused not on them, but on the sky behind them. It flew past swiftly, bringing with it a rush of wind that caused Astrid's hair to hit Hiccup in the face.

"That's a Typhoomerang!" noted Snaketail.

"And he appears to be injured," piped up Batwings, nodding at a large burnt patch on the Typhoomerang's wing.

"What's he flying away from?" asked Snotlout. "A big fella like him couldn't have been scared that easily."

"Good question," replied Hiccup. "Someone should try and find the answer."

"I've got this one covered," Batwings assured him. Tugging on his saddle, he turned Mocktalk around and flew off after the Typhoomerang.

When he was parallel with the dragon, indeed of a size that indicated that he wasn't fully grown, the Siren leaned over Mocktalk's flank and cried down, "Excuse me! You there, big boy! Do you think you can tell me what you're flying away from?"

The Typhoomerang seemed to think about the question for a minute before finally dipping his goose-like head in a nod. He let out a roar before flying back in the direction he had come, Batwings and Mocktalk closely following. The rest of the Monster Riders flew behind them, closely keeping pace.

Finally, they reached a clearing that looked as if it had been… recently made. All the trees were gone, and there was a huge, spiraling burn mark swirling around the clearing's entirety. It was like lightning had struck down all the trees before being picked up and spun around by a tornado.

"Like we said," Ruffnut repeated, "ultimate destruction."

Their monsters landed, and the riders were able to get a closer look at the charred, sooty earth. All except Batwings, that is – he stayed with the Typhoomerang near the trees, who held his injured wing close to him. The dragon was reluctant to approach the clearing, it seemed.

"I know that we've seen this burn mark before," deduced Hiccup, looking down at Sparks. The wyvern stared back at him before snuggling more deeply into his arms.

"Not _this_ big, though," Astrid murmured.

"Um," quavered Fishlegs. "You do know what this means, right?"

Hiccup nodded. "Big burn mark, big Doragyurosu."

It was at that moment they saw the grey-green wyvern circling in the sky near the other side of the clearing, coming up over a hill that sloped high into the air. The Doragyurosu's wing ribbons lashed the air with every flap of its powerful wings, giving its wingbeats an odd slashing sound.

"He looks angry," grinned Tuffnut.

"I-It's not a he," Snaketail realized. "It's a she. That's Sparks' mother."

"Sparks is a _baby_?!" exclaimed Astrid.

"That's what Sightless was trying to warn me about!" said Hiccup, only realizing the truth just now. _If only I knew this before. If only I trusted Sightless a little more._

Fishlegs looked up, surprised and frightful, when Sparks hopped away from Hiccup and onto his shoulder. "Whoever gets between that mother… and this baby… _is going to get fried_!" he suddenly shrieked, grabbing Sparks and passing him to Tuff.

"You take him!" the Thorston boy cried, quickly shoving the little wyvern at Ruff.

"I don't want it!" she protested, throwing Sparks to Snotlout.

"Just leave it, and let's get out of here!" he squeaked, giving the baby Doragyurosu to Batwings.

It was right at that moment when the mother Doragyurosu looked down at the clearing and, with eyes better than an eagle's, spotted her missing chick in Batwings' clutches.

"Uh oh," the Siren gulped.

The Doragyurosu roared deafeningly and folded her wings, diving swiftly down toward them, reddish electricity already sparking across her crest and ruff.

"Um, go, go home to your mama," advised Batwings, quickly placing Sparks down on the ground and backing away. Behind him, the Typhoomerang gave a startled warble and took a step back toward the forest. It was obvious that he didn't want to tangle with the enraged mother wyvern.

"You guys go that way!" called Hiccup, running past the gang as they mounted their monsters. "I'll go get Sightless and lead her away from the village!"

"Hiccup!" protested Astrid, but a sudden thunderbolt from the Doragyurosu overhead stopped her argument before it got started.

The blast hit the ground behind Hiccup, causing the Haddock boy to trip and fall right beside Batwings. Groaning, he took the clawed hand offered to him and let himself be pulled upright.

"C'mon already!" the Siren shouted, climbing up onto the Typhoomerang's back. He was given a quizzical look by both Mocktalk and Hiccup. "This guy won't be able to escape the Doragyurosu on an injured wing. I'll be flying with him instead of Mocktalk."

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Hiccup rhetorically, already on the move. He was followed not just by Batwings, but by a familiar olive-green wyvern.

"Oh, would you please stop following me?" cried Hiccup. He suddenly swerved in a different direction toward the secret cove, but the mother Doragyurosu was right above him, wings grazing the tops of the trees and black lightning flashing down from her wings."

"SIGHTLESS!" screamed Hiccup, spotting the lip of the gorge just ahead. Desperately, in order to avoid the humongous wyvern that plunged down upon him like a vulture, he screwed his eyes shut and jumped…

… and was caught by Sightless, who rose above the edge of the crevasse with strong beats of his furry wings and a scream rushing out from his maw. Hiccup's confidence grew as he felt his foot slide into its regular position in the saddle's stirrup, and as he saw the mother Doragyurosu glaring at him from down below with her talons clamped around the cliff's edge.

"Thanks, bud," Hiccup said breathlessly. "Oh man, I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you."

Sightless snorted and tossed his head. _Save it for later._

"You got it, bud," replied Hiccup, relieved. "Ready? Let's do some evasive maneuvers!"

They were off and flying with a click of the stirrup, winging their way up and out over the forest, heading rapidly toward the ocean in the near distance. Hiccup could hear the enraged Doragyurosu roar and fly after them, already hot on their heels.

"Why is she still following us?" he muttered under his breath.

They were now out over the ocean, carving swift and unimaginably tight turns around the rock spires that jutted out from the water. Impossibly, the much larger monster followed their every move, displaying her great aerial prowess that spited her immense size. And if a turn was too tight for her to make, she would hook her wing ribbons into a pillar, spin around the entire thing, and continue the chase with a new burst of speed.

"Oh, why won't she just stop and give up?" groaned Hiccup, then yelped as he felt sharp claws dig into his back. "What the – Sparks? You should be with your mother!"

Indeed, the baby Doragyurosu was there with him. Sparks tilted his head and grinned up at him, seemingly unwilling to abandon his human friend.

_Either he wants to help us,_ Hiccup decided, _or he's trying to get us killed._

The mother Doragyurosu snapped her fangs, the bite coming uncomfortably close to Sightless' tail. While the Gore Magala was a skilled flier despite his crippled wing, the Doragyurosu was much larger and flapped more powerfully, bringing her closer with each stroke of her wings. She was so close, in fact, that the draconic energy buzzing around her ruff was starting to jump over to Sightless, stinging him repeatedly and causing him to falter.

"I don't know how much longer we can keep this up," Hiccup muttered, then turned to Sparks and added, "Why can't you just go to Mama and get her to leave?"

His answer didn't come from the little flying wyvern. A crimson streak flew through the air, followed by a green one. Hiccup twisted his head to look behind him, and his eyes went wide when he saw Batwings, Mocktalk, and the Typhoomerang flying around the Doragyurosu, shooting fire and mucus and generally making annoyances of themselves. Distracted, the wyvern roared and shook her head wildly, trying to fend them off and falling behind as a result.

Hiccup steered Sightless around and joined them, calling, "What are you doing?"

"Helping you, of course!" replied Batwings. "You're very welcome! Alright, Mocktalk, get that monster to follow us!"

"With pleasure!" squawked the bird wyvern. A flap of his wings propelled him directly in front of the Doragyurosu, and his throat sac inflated in a burst of red. He opened his mouth and produced a loud roar, identical to the one that the Doragyurosu used.

She replied with a much louder and much angrier roar. Apparently, she didn't like what Mocktalk had to say.

"We're going to lure her to the ground!" Batwings shouted to Hiccup, already steering the Typhoomerang back toward the island. "We'll use her size against her!"

Hiccup nodded, and followed them back toward the island.

Upon Batwings' command, Mocktalk let out another mocking roar and flew straight up into the sky. Hiccup followed right before the Doragyurosu flew upwards as well, snapping angrily at them. In an almost perfectly straight line, the three wyverns leveled out one-by-one, and then dove directly toward the forest below. The Doragyurosu's wings eclipsed the sun as she streaked down after them.

"Now, Sightless!" yelled Hiccup, pulling hard on the saddle.

They sharply leveled out their flight and shot off across the ground, blowing dust in their wake. Mocktalk joined them, nimbly and perfectly copying their movements.

But the Doragyurosu, for all her fancy flying, was too big to follow them. Her wingbeats faltered, and she crashed into the ground with an impact that shook the forest.

Safe once more, Hiccup and Batwings landed and hopped off their monsters to examine the unconscious mother wyvern.

"I hope she's alright," Hiccup worried.

At the sight of the fallen Doragyurosu, Sparks chirped frantically and scurried to his mother's side. He beat his wings across her face and nudged her with his head, trying to wake her. And on the third try, he succeeded in eliciting a response.

Sparks chirped happily, and two more answering chirps sounded from somewhere behind his mother. A pair of Doragyurosu chicks eagerly flapped out of the forest and joined their lost sibling, squeaking and warbling enthusiastically.

"Good job, everyone," congratulated Batwings, patting Mocktalk and the Typhoomerang on their heads.

"Everyone's back where they belong," added Hiccup. "Goodbye, Sparks."

With her children nestled safely in the fur on her back, the mother Doragyurosu jumped up into the air, letting out blazing red-and-black bolts as she whooshed away into the wild blue yonder.

Hiccup smiled, a little sadly. He knew that he was sad to see his wyvern friend go – but at the same time, he felt convinced that they would meet again someday soon.

_Nah, that's crazy,_ he decided. _Let's just go home._

* * *

**Hiccup's House**

All was peaceful that night as the sun went down over Berk. Stoick was crouched over the fire, stirring the soup. Hiccup was feeding Sightless, who was glad to be the only monster in the house again. Batwings, for once, was awake, leaning against the Typhoomerang whom he had bonded with. Gobber, having fixed up the dragon's wing as best as he could, was playing on his panpipes.

"Ah," he sighed in a satisfactory way when he had finished his song. "I wrote that jus' for the occasion."

"Pretty good," Batwings yawned idly. The Typhoomerang expressed his agreement with a grunt.

Gobber glanced up from his pipes. "That reminds me," he said curiously, "what're yeh going ta name that beastie?"

Shrugging, the Siren replied, "I'm open to suggestions."

Now Stoick looked up with interest. "How about… Torch?" he suggested.

"Still set on that name, aren't you, Dad?" chuckled Hiccup.

"I just like the way it sounds," Stoick replied seriously.

Batwings chuckled as well and decided, "Very well. Torch it is."

Sightless gurgled with approval and nudged his head into the belly of his rider, who laughed and said, "I should have known you were just trying to protect me. That's what you do."

And in three seconds, a freshly-vomited fish head was in his lap. "And then you do… that."

Everyone present laughed – even Sightless and Torch.

* * *

_Communication between monster and rider goes both ways. Not only must the monster follow the rider's lead, but the rider must listen to the monster as well._

_Because sometimes, what the monster is trying to say is what you really need to hear._

* * *

**Please tell me someone else besides myself thinks that the Typhoomerang looks a bit like a giant goose with horns.**

**Alright, the next chapter might take a while to write – it's an episode of my own invention! I really need to get the creative juices flowing for the upcoming part.**

**P.S. I beg you all, go see HTTYD 2 as I just did. It will not disappoint you, I guarantee.**

**Up next: Diablos Season**


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